Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Yannick Nézet-Séguin is the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Orchestre Métropolitain (Montreal), where he has served since 2000 and with whom he holds a lifetime contract. He is also the Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, a role he has held since 2012. He studied piano, conducting, composition, and chamber music at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec, in his native Montreal and choral conducting at the Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, before going on to study with renowned conductors, most notably the Italian maestro Carlo Maria Giulini. By the time he made his European debut in 2004, he had already founded his own professional orchestra and vocal ensemble, La Chapelle de Montréal, going on to conduct all the major ensembles in Canada. In 2008, he was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, made his BBC Proms debut in 2009 with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, returning in 2010 and 2013 with the Rotterdam Philharmonic and in 2013, he was Artist-in-Residence at the Konzerthaus Dortmund for a three-year period. Nézet-Séguin became the third Music Director of the Metropolitan Opera, New York in 2018, shortly after his tenth, and last, season as Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic that was crowned by the orchestra’s centenary celebrations. His inaugural concerts as Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra received rave reviews and included his Carnegie Hall debut, conducting the Verdi Requiem. Alongside regular subscription and touring programmes, he leads three Carnegie Hall concerts each season. Equally at home on the concert platform and in the opera pit, he made his debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2008 with a new production of Roméo et Juliette, his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 2009 with an acclaimed production of Carmen, his debut at the Teatro alla Scala in 2011 and has also conducted at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Vienna Staatsoper and Netherlands Opera, and has helped lead a highly successful Mozart cycle at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus. The 2016–17 season saw him take the helm of a revival of Der fliegende Höllander at the Met, his first Wagner opera with the company, followed by Parsifal and Richard Strauss’s Elektra in 2018. In his inaugural season as Music Director, Nézet-Séguin conducted La traviata, Pelléas et Mélisande and Dialogues des Carmélites, as well as conducting the Met Orchestra outside the opera house for the first time, in two concerts at Carnegie Hall. Other highlights include concert performances of Fidelio at the Opéra de Montréal with the Orchestre Métropolitain and wide-ranging programmes with the Philadelphia Orchestra, both at home and on tour in Asia. As one of Carnegie Hall’s 2019–20 Perspectives Artists, Nézet-Séguin conducted the Orchestre Métropolitain in its debut appearance at the legendary venue and moved from podium to piano to accompany Joyce DiDonato in their interpretation of Schubert’s Winterreise. Yannick Nézet-Séguin signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon in 2018, continuing a long-term partnership that began in 2012 with the launch of a major new cycle of recordings of Mozart’s mature operas recorded at Baden-Baden and all starring Rolando Villazón. Nézet-Séguin’s honours include Musical America’s Artist of the Year, ECHO KLASSIK’s Conductor of the Year, a Royal Philharmonic Society Award; a National Arts Centre Award; the Virginia Parker Prize; the Prix Denise-Pelletier; and the Oskar Morawetz Award. He holds six honorary doctorates, from the University of Québec in Montreal, Curtis Institute of Philadelphia, Westminster Choir College of Rider University, McGill University in Montreal, Université de Montréal; and Penn University. He has been appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada, Companion to the Order of Arts and Letters of Québec, Officer of the Order of Québec, Officer of the Order of Montreal and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Conservatory of Music.