By GARY DEMUTH
For the Salina Symphony
A guitar teacher tuning up with Bach caused Yaniv Attar to fall in love with classical music.
A native of Israel, Attar’s path to a career as a professional musician and orchestra conductor began with an acoustic guitar his mother bought him.
“She wanted me to have some kind of music in my life,” Attar said. “All she could afford to buy me was a guitar, thinking I would play folk music.”
During one of his first guitar lessons, the teacher began tuning Attar’s guitar by playing a classical piece by Johann Sebastian Bach. Attar was instantly smitten with the glorious sound he heard flowing from the instrument.
“I told him that I wanted to learn this piece,” Attar said. “He told me that classical guitar was a very different way of teaching. I said I didn’t care; I have to learn this.”
Through intense study, Attar eventually became an accomplished classical guitarist, becoming the first guitarist to win the Aviv Competition Prize in Israel and the first guitarist to win the Concerto Competition at the Juilliard School in New York City.
Despite his success as a classical guitarist, conducting became Attar’s first love. He is the fourth of five finalists vying for the position of conductor and music director of the Salina Symphony. His concert, Melodic Journey, will be at 4 p.m. March 27 at the Stiefel Theatre for the Performing Arts, 151 S. Santa Fe.
The program will include a performance of Tchaikovsky’s melodic and masterful Fifth Symphony, the Mexican influenced rhythms of Danzon No. 2 by Arturo Marquez and Joaquin Rodrigo’s soulful and poetic Concierto de Aranjuez, featuring classical guitarist Daniel Bolshoy.
Attar and Bolshoy will give a pre-concert talk beginning at 3 p.m. March 27 in the Stiefel Theatre Watson Room.
“We are so delighted to present our music director finalists to our patrons and the community this season,” said Adrienne Allen, executive director of the Salina Symphony. “Our search begins an exciting new chapter for the Symphony.”
Impressed by symphony
Attar said he researched the Salina Symphony before applying for the director position and was impressed with what he found.
“I have conductor colleagues who told me great things about the Salina Symphony,” he said. “The community is very supportive of the orchestra. They also have been very organized in their search.”
Attar is grateful to be one of five finalists for the position and invited to conduct a live concert with Salina Symphony musicians.
“The real job of a conductor is what’s happening in rehearsals, what you hear, how you communicate with the orchestra and how you lead them,” he said.
Attar said his primary goal as a conductor is to “build the sound of an orchestra” and to be a good collaborator.
“I like to collaborate with the musicians to design a season together,” he said. “That’s a great asset to me.”
Music education
Attar, who studied with Israel Edelson in Jerusalem, Virginia Allen at the Juilliard School in New York City and Neil Thomson at the Royal College of Music in London, earned a doctor of music degree from McGill University and studied with renowned conductors such as Kurt Masur, Leonard Slatkin and Jorma Panula.
During his career, Attar has worked with multiple orchestras in North America, Europe and Israel, including the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Dohnanyi Orchestra Budapest, Hamburg Symphony Orchestra and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.
He is a first prize winner of the Duna Szimfonikus Conducting Competition Budapest, a multiple recipient of the Sir Georg Solti Foundation Award and a winner of the Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation Award.
Attar currently is music director of the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra in Bellingham, Wash., where he was awarded the Mayor’s Arts Award for his contribution to musical life in Bellingham. He also is an artistic partner with Northwest Sinfonietta in Seattle and music director of the Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra.
During his tenure in Bellingham, the Symphony has seen major audience growth, a rise in donations and sponsorships and an increase in education and community activities. In 2015, Attar began a concert series in Bellingham, Harmony from Discord, which showcases the music of composers who wrote under duress and oppression.
Attar said the series was intended to bring a renewed interest to little known and rarely performed music, while furthering discussion about the use of art as a tool to transcend oppression and bring a message of hope and unity.
“When I was a doctorate student, I would feature composers whose music was banned, especially Jewish composers,” he said. “Some were written in concentration camps. I wanted to feature some of these works because it’s part of music history.”
Guest artist
Guest artist Bolshoy is a senior lecturer in the Hugh Hodgson School of Music at the University of Georgia, where he directs the guitar program. An Israeli Canadian guitarist, Bolshoy has been a soloist with more than 60 orchestras internationally.
Bolshoy also has performed at numerous chamber music festivals and concert series throughout North America, Europe, Russia, Asia and the Middle East. His recordings and live performances are often broadcast in CBC Radio, National Public Radio and numerous classical music stations.
“He’s a wonderful guitarist,” Attar said of Bolshoy. “The audience is in for a real treat. Classical guitar is not something featured very often with a symphony orchestra.”
Fun concert
Attar said he wants his Melodic Journey concert to be a fun experience for the audience.
“This specific concert is full of incredible melodies and highly rhythmic energy,” he said. “I want people to have fun with this concert and be smiling after experiencing live music again.”
Tickets for the concert may be purchased at the Stiefel Theatre box office at 785-827-1998 or online at www.salinasymphony.org. Single admission tickets are $29 or $39 for adults and $19 for students.
The Stiefel Theatre recently suspended their COVID-19 vaccine mandate for attendance to shows.