Yaniv Dinur, Conductor
Yaniv Dinur was the winner of the 2019 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award, the largest and one of the most prestigious of its kind awarded to young conductors working in the United States. Associate Conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony and Music Director of the New Bedford Symphony, Mr. Dinur is lauded for his bold programming, insightful performances, and unique ability to connect with diverse audiences. Recent and upcoming highlights include subscription debuts with the symphonies of Fort Worth and Houston and return engagements with the San Diego Symphony, as well as the Peninsula (Wisconsin) and Round Top (Texas) festivals. Among other U.S. guest conducting appearances are the Louisiana Philharmonic, New World Symphony, and the San Antonio Symphony.
Yaniv Dinur made his conducting debut at the age of 19 with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, which led to multiple return engagements. Following his European debut, he was invited to perform with the Israel Camerata in Jerusalem, making him the youngest conductor ever to conduct a professional orchestra in Israel. Since then, he has conducted orchestras around the world, including the Israel Philharmonic, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Portugal Symphony Orchestra, Sofia Festival Orchestra, Solisti di Perugia, State Orchestra of St. Petersburg, Torino Philharmonic, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. Broadcast live on Israeli radio, he was appointed conductor of the Jerusalem Symphony’s Young Artists Competition from 2003 to 2010.
Among Mr. Dinur’s numerous honors are the 2016 and 2017 Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Awards. In 2011, he was chosen by the League of American Orchestras to be a featured conductor at the Bruno Walter National Conducting Preview in New Orleans. Other awards include Second Prize at the International Eduardo Mata 2009 Conducting Competition in Mexico City; the Yuri Ahronovitch First Prize at the 2005 Aviv Conducting Competition in Israel; as well as grants from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation and the Zubin Mehta Scholarship Endowment. He was recently named by the Milwaukee Business Journal as one of the city’s young leaders, who are making a positive difference in Milwaukee.
Yaniv Dinur is also an accomplished pianist and a passionate music educator, who is committed to exposing new audiences to classical music. He often gives pre-concert talks and lectures in which he incorporates live demonstrations on the piano, aiming to reveal surprising connections between pieces, composers, and eras. In addition, he created a series of short, sometimes humorous YouTube videos that give a deeper look into musical pieces of all genres.
Mr. Dinur has worked closely with such world-class conductors as Lorin Maazel, Michael Tilson Thomas, Pinchas Zukerman, the late Kurt Masur, and Jorma Panula; soloists with whom he has collaborated include Itzhak Perlman, Yefim Bronfman, and Vadim Guzman. He holds a Doctorate in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance, where he was a student of Kenneth Kiesler.
Born in Jerusalem in 1981, Yaniv Dinur began studying the piano at the age of six with his aunt, Olga Shachar, and later with Prof. Alexander Tamir, Tatiana Alexanderov, and Mark Dukelsky. At the age of 16, he began to study conducting with Dr. Evgeny Zirlin. While still in high school, Mr. Dinur began his formal studies with Dr. Zirlin at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. After graduating from the Jerusalem Academy, he studied privately with conductor Mendi Rodan. During his required service in the Israeli Defense Forces, he conducted the Education Corps Orchestra and wrote musical arrangements for the army’s various ensembles.