Clarinets

Danila Yankovsky

In the orchestra since 2023

In 2001 Danila Yankovsky started his studies at the Glinka Novosibirsk State Conservatory. From 2004 to 2009 he studied at the Lubeck Higher School of Music (Germany) in the class of Sabine Meyer and Rainer Weile. He graduated from the Krasnoyarsk State Academy of Music and Theatre. He has won a range of All-Russian and international competitions, including the Hofmann International Competition (Germany, 2nd Prize, 2002).

In 2002 he was the clarinet group concertmaster in the youth international project Russian-American Symphony Orchestra (the USA). In 2003, he became an artist of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester under the direction of Claudio Abbado. From 2006 to 2007 he was the concertmaster of the clarinet group in the Philharmonie der Nationen symphony orchestra (Germany) under the direction of Justus Franz. From 2011 to 2015 he worked as a concertmaster of the clarinet group in the Governor’s Symphony Orchestra of the Irkutsk Regional Philharmonic, from 2015 to 2023 – in the Tyumen Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 2019, he has collaborated with the musicAeterna Orchestra as a guest musician.

From 2007 to 2008, he actively performed in Germany as part of an instrumental trio in the international Clarinet Nights project together with such musicians as Sabine Mayer, Rainer Weile, Wolfgang Mayer, Paul Mayer, and Sebastian Manz. Since 2016, he has been the artistic director of the chamber ensembles of the Tyumen Philharmonic: the woodwind quintet Wood Life and the chamber ensemble Per Aspera Ad Astra.

In 2013, as a soloist, he took part in the international festival Stars on Lake Baikal (artistic director – Denis Matsuev), participated in the Sacred Russia International Festival held across Japan; and in the concert programme of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra conducted by Lior Shambadala. In 2014, as a soloist, he performed concert programmes across China, and in 2017 as part of the Dissonance Orchestra (Paris) in France.

In 2020, Danila Yankovsky became an ambassador artist of the leading German clarinet production company Uebel.

He taught at the children’s Music school of Hamburg (Germany, 2006–2009), at the Novosibirsk Secondary Special Music School (2009), at the All-Russian Children’s Centre Orlyonok as part of the specialized session ‘Young Musicians’ (2009, 2010), from 2011 to 2015 he served as head of the wind instruments department and clarinet teacher at the Frederic Chopin Irkutsk Musical College. Currently, he teaches at the Tyumen State Institute of Culture, as well as at the College of Arts.

WHEN DID YOU DECIDE TO BECOME A MUSICIAN?

I started studying music with my father Vladislav Yanovich Yankovsky, a clarinettist and soloist of the Novosibirsk Philharmonic Orchestra. My mother and older brother are also professional musicians, so I don't even know what I heard first – my father's voice or Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2. By the time I entered the Novosibirsk Conservatory, there were no longer any doubt about choosing the path: concerts, tours, and work with foundations began. I wanted to get more opportunities, so after Novosibirsk I continued my studies at the Lübeck Academy of Music with Sabine Meyer and Rainer Weile.

DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR FIRST BIG PERFORMANCES?

My first serious international project was my participation in the American Russian Young Artists Orchestra. It was a group of young musicians, with wonderful conductors Eckart Preu and Leon Botstein, the head of the orchestra, working with us. At first, we rehearsed the programme for almost a month, and then went on tour, and performed in different cities with different conductors, including, for example, Paavo Järvi. It was an unforgettable experience. Then I happened to play in the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra with Claudio Abbado and the Orchestra of Nations conducted by Justus Frantz, whom I found in the prime of his life. It is hard to describe in words how valuable it is to work with such masters. The range of one's professional opportunities becomes an order of magnitude broader.

HOW DID YOU GET TO KNOW MUSICAETERNA?

I met Teodor in 2007 in Novosibirsk. Even then, he was a prominent, significant figure in our profession. After the audition, we agreed to work together, and for the first time I played in the orchestra under his direction in Puccini's La Bohème. Sometime later, my friend and colleague Sergey Eletskiy began to invite me more and more often to musicAeterna projects. Over the past two or three years, I have played with the orchestra very often: Shostakovich's Symphony No. 4, Mahler's Symphony No. 9, Stravinsky's Perséphone and the Symphony of Psalms. Our cooperation was growing closer and closer. Therefore, by the end of this year, when I was invited to join the main line-up of musicAeterna, I already knew the musicians in the orchestra very well, and they knew me.

PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOUR INSTRUMENT.

I play the Uebel clarinet. It is a German company with a rich history, which closed in the 1980s, but was revived later. While I was looking for an instrument, I chose this manufacturer, and soon accepted an offer to become an ambassador artist of the company. My instrument is made of black grenadille wood — it is fairly dense, resistant to environmental changes, so it is used quite often in clarinets. Just like any wooden instruments, clarinets are sensitive to temperature and humidity fluctuations. It happens that while on tour, when you come from a cold climate, say, to the subtropics, the instrument cannot recover for a long time. Therefore, we clarinettists constantly take good care of the instruments: we treat them with oils and compounds, clean the mechanics, and maintain the necessary humidity level. It's quite troublesome, but it can't be helped — you have to take care of it.

IS THERE A PLACE YOU WANT TO RETURN TO?

Lately, I often dream about Lübeck where I studied. I really want to go back there, take a walk, and pay a visit to my professors. And, of course, the most important place for me is Novosibirsk, my native town, where I matured as a person and as a professional, where my first teachers live. In this sense, perhaps, specific places are dear to me precisely because of the people who live there.

WHAT KIND OF MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO AT HOME?

I like music of various genres, the main thing is that it should be high quality. I love jazz very much; while driving I can listen, for example, to the French pianist Jacques Loussier. Most of the time I'm so immersed in academic music that I want to take a break from it at home.