Yaniv Segal has been a versatile musician and performer from a young age, appearing on stage extensively as a violinist, violist, singer, actor and conductor. He is a founder and conductor of the Chelsea Symphony in New York City - an orchestra that provides unique performance opportunities for instrumentalists, composers and conductors - and music director of the Michigan Pops Orchestra in Ann Arbor. The New York Times praised his interpretation of Mahler's Fourth Symphony as an "earnest, vibrant account," and Esquire Magazine profiled him as a rising star that is "redefining classical music." In the spring of 2011, as part of the Ludwig Van Beethoven Easter Festival, he made his Polish guest-conducting debut with the Opole Philharmonic of Poland and was immediately reengaged for the following season.

The son of a New York Philharmonic violinist and a respected violinmaker, Yaniv began to play the violin at age four and to sing at age eight. Yaniv sang in the children's choir at the Metropolitan Opera under maestros such as James Levine and Georg Solti and with the Bolshoi Opera under the direction of Valery Gerghiev. He later performed the role of Colin in the first national production of "The Secret Garden," touring the United States and Japan. His acting career continued with a role in Tom Stoppard's "Hapgood," at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater in Lincoln Center, where he appeared alongside actors Stockhard Channing, David Lansbury and David Strathairn. As a concert violinist, he was a prizewinner and soloist with the Yonkers Philharmonic on two occasions. As a chamber and orchestral violinist and violist, he was an active freelancer in the greater New York area, playing with ensembles such as the Bridgeport and Allentown Symphonies.

While an undergraduate at Vassar College, Yaniv co-founded and served as music director of the Mahagonny Ensemble - an ensemble dedicated to music of the past 100 years - and also was the assistant conductor of the Vassar College Orchestra. In the years that followed, he worked as an assistant conductor with the New York Youth Symphony, Princeton Symphony and at the Manhattan School of Music. Among others, Yaniv has conducted the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, New Symphony Orchestra (Bulgaria), Thüringen Philharmonie (Germany), Ukrainian State Symphony, Castleton Festival Orchestra, University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra, Manhattan School of Music Symphony, Greenwich Village Orchestra, and Stamford Young People's Symphony.

Yaniv has participated in masterclasses with several preeminent conductors, such as Kurt Masur, Michael Tilson Thomas and Lorin Maazel. He is currently at the University of Michigan, where he is jointly pursuing a Doctorate in Musical Arts in conducting with Kenneth Kiesler and a Master of Music in composition with Kristin Kuster.

As a child of Polish and Israeli immigrants, Yaniv grew up speaking three languages in a multi-cultural household. In support of his education, achievements, and contributions to American Society he was one of thirty-two national recipients of the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans in 2009.

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