The Greenwich Village Orchestra

Barbara Yahr — Music Director

Photo by Adi Segal

Now in her eleventh season with the GVO, Music Director Barbara Yahr continues to lead the orchestra to new levels of distinction. With blockbuster programming and stellar musical guests, the reputation of the GVO under Barbara’s baton has grown dramatically in recent years. A native of New York, her career has spanned from the United States to Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Ms. Yahr completed a four year appointment with the Pittsburgh Symphony under Lorin Maazel in 1994. Her European debut conducting the Bayerischer Academy Orchestra on tour with Lorin Maazel as violin soloist prompted invitations from the Symphony Orchestra of the Bayerischer Rundfunk as well as the Munich Radio Orchestra, where she subsequently served as Principal Guest Conductor.

Ms. Yahr’s has appeared as a guest conductor with the Dusseldorf Symphoniker, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Frankfurt Radio, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Janacek Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony, and the National Symphony in Washington D.C. She has also conducted the orchestra in Columbus, Detroit, Calgary, Chattanooga, Louisiana, Richmond, New Mexico, Lubbock, Anchorage as well as the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and the Chautauqua Festival Symphony Orchestra. She has also appeared in Israel conducting in both Jerusalem and Elat and as an opera conductor, has led new productions in Frankfurt, Giessen, Tulsa, Cincinnati, Minnesota and at The Mannes School of Music in NYC.

Ms. Yahr is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Middlebury College where she studied piano and philosophy. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Conducting from the Curtis Institute of Music where she studied with Max Rudolf, an MM in Music Theory from the Manhattan School of Music and was a student of Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux School in Hancock, Maine. In addition to her work as a conductor, Ms. Yahr recently earned an MA in Music Therapy from New York University training at the Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy in NYC. Her most recent project is called Together in Music; an innovative concert series dedicated to bringing orchestral music to the special needs community.

Ms. Yahr is currently on faculty at the Music Therapy Institute, at the Music Conservatory of Westchester in White Plains, New York. She is married to Alex Lerman, has two step children, Abe and Dania and a 10-year-old son, Ben.