YannickNézet-Séguin

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  • Conductor

About Yannick

Music Director: The Metropolitan Opera Music Director: The Philadelphia Orchestra Artistic Director and Principal Conductor: Orchestre Métropolitain Honorary Member: Chamber Orchestra of Europe Honorary Conductor: Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra

Montreal-born Yannick Nézet-Séguin was appointed as Music Director of The Metropolitan Opera, New York in 2018, adding this to his Music Directorship of the Philadelphia Orchestra (where he has served since 2012) and to the Orchestre Métropolitain (Montreal), of which he has been Artistic Director and Principal Conductor since 2000. He joined Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Bernard Haitink to become the third-ever Honorary Member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in 2016-17. The end of his ten-year tenure with Rotterdam Philharmonic coincided with the orchestra’s centenary celebrations in its home city and culminated in an acclaimed European summer festivals tour in 2018.

Yannick has worked with many leading European ensembles and has enjoyed many close collaborations with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and Chamber Orchestra of Europe, as well as with London Philharmonic Orchestra, of which he was Principal Guest Conductor from 2008 to 2014. He has appeared several times at the BBC Proms and at many European festivals, among them Edinburgh, Lucerne, Salzburg, Berlin and Grafenegg. North American summer appearances include New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival, Lanaudière, Vail and Saratoga. Once Chorus Master, Assistant Conductor and Music Adviser at Opéra de Montréal he has since conducted at the Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Netherlands Opera, Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Festival.

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Hannah Bishay

Hannah Bishay

Associate Artist Manager

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Worldwide general management with Askonas Holt

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Season Highlights

Aug 2024
Salzburg Festival
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major Op. 15 Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique Danil Trifonov (piano) Wiener Philharmoniker
Sep 2024 - Oct 2024
Metropolitan Opera, New York
Tesori: Grounded
Dec 2024 - Jan 2025
Metropolitan Opera, New York
Verdi: Aida
Mar 2025 - Mar 2025
Zellerbach Auditorium Berkley, Segerstrom Concert Hall Costa Mesa, Musikverein Vienna
Wiener Philharmoniker

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  • The Philadelphia Orchestra | Mahler 3

    Carnegie Hall, New York
    Oct 2024

    • The Philadelphia Orchestra’s performance of Mahler’s monumental Symphony No. 3 aCarnegie Hall on October 15th was an unforgettable evening of rich musical storytelling. Under the dynamic direction of Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the orchestra captured the emotional breadth and technical demands of this vast work. The night showcased both the grandeur and intimacy of Mahler’s vision, with some moments achieving sublime transcendence. Nézet-Séguin’s pacing here was impeccable, allowing the music to breathe and expand organically. The performance was a total triumph for the Philadelphia Orchestra as Nézet-Séguin’s interpretation brought out the grandeur, humor, and humanity of the work, and his orchestra played with a sense of total commitment and artistry.

    • Philadelphia Orchestra delivers a magnificent Mahler Third at Carnegie Hall. Nézet-Séguin and the orchestra consistently rose to the challenge of successfully revealing the many moods and colors of this challenging work. In What Love Tells Me, the sublime, string dominated Adagio final movement, Nézet-Séguin elicited passages of sheer radiance, from the gently hushed glow of the opening bars to the overwhelmingly powerful brass climaxes. Following the loud and majestic final chord, the audience responded with the enthusiastic and extended ovation that this splendid performance deserved.

  • Yannick and the Orchestre Métropolitain celebrate their silver anniversary

    Maison Symphonique de Montréal
    Sep 2024

    • Twenty-five years ago Montreal's Orchestre Métropolitain took a huge gamble by hiring a 25-year-old local as its Artistic Director. At that time, no one would have predicted that this whizkid would go on to pilot both the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera, or that Yannick Nézet-Séguin would still be the head of the OM a quarter of a century later. The fact that Nézet-Séguin is still with his Montreal orchestra is testament to his character, having remained loyal to the organisation that provided him with his first major career break. Being able to consistently motivate his charges to give 110% sets this conductor apart from so many others. The resultant synergy has been the key to the Orchestre Métropolitan's attaining top tier status in the realm of Canadian orchestras.

  • Maestro; New York Philharmonic | David Geffen Hall

    • The New York Met’s musical director Yannick Nézet-Séguin serves as advisor, meaning not just an accuracy in the way Cooper conducts, and conducts himself, but also in the glorious way his music is used throughout.

    • The tour de force of the Mahler 2 in Ely Cathedral was well done, and Cooper’s performance as Bernstein was remarkable, coached by the New York Met’s musical director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin. … I found ‘Maestro’ a refreshing novelty, a film about a world I have worked in for over 40 years and which I recognised clearly.

    • As Cooper’s conducting consultant, Nézet-Séguin was an indispensable part of the film’s success. He knows a thing or two about what goes into making a master.

    • His wild conducting style is passionate and highly energetic, and his seasonal programming jumps across all musical genres. it’s Nézet-Séguin’s guiding hand and spirited interpretation that gives Maestro its verity and lusty cinematic thrill. Along with conducting orchestras with his wild physicality of thrusting arms, exaggerated expressions and fleet, flying fingers, Nézet-Séguin is behind the recent resurgence of the Metropolitan Opera

    • the revolutionary artist whose intense conducting techniques are terrifically recreated by Cooper, aided by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, to bring the spirit of Bernstein back to life.

    • The orchestra performed the passage under the baton of both Cooper and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the movie’s conducting adviser, who worked with Cooper for several years, not only teaching him to conduct but to conduct convincingly as Lenny.

  • Bates, Peña Laguna, Brahms | Philadelphia Orchestra

    Verizon Hall, Philadelphia
    Jan 2024 - Jan 2024

    • Nézet-Séguin opened the floodgates of the heart. Here, Nézet-Séguin, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Philadelphia Symphonic Choir maintained the stalwart underpinnings of classical tradition while releasing the emotional energy pent up in the human experience of grief and the yearning for transformation. What a staggering revelation!

    • It could well be one of the big statements of Nézet-Séguin’s tenure so far. The last movement arrived like a salve — made all the more rich by Holly Blake’s big contrabassoon foundation, Nézet-Séguin’s sweet and expressive phrasing, and the inner glow of winds and harps gently cradling the work to a close.

  • Stravinsky, Weill, Gershwin | Philadelphia Orchestra

    Verizon Hall, Philadelphia
    Jan 2024 - Jan 2024

    • Nézet-Séguin surrounded Rhapsody in Blue with two pieces composed more or less contemporaneously. A zesty rendition of Stravinsky’s Petrushka showed the orchestra off to its full massed glory.

    • Yannick Nézet-Séguin drew a vivid account that successfully conveyed the currents of despair and flashes of light in the ballet’s twisted tale of a puppet love triangle.

  • Rachmaninov | Philadelphia Orchestra

    Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg
    Nov 2023

    • He was a firecracker of energy on the podium, coaxing, moulding and urging his string players on, shaping the long lyrical lines with a sure sense of direction. Many details impressed.

  • Heggie | Dead Man Walking

    Metropolitan Opera Company, New York
    Oct 2023

    • Nézet-Séguin seemed to delight in showing that his Cadillac of an orchestra could take the corners fast, and accelerate down the straightaway to an exciting coda.

  • Puccini | La Bohème

    Metropolitan Opera, New York
    Apr 2023

    • In ‘La Bohème’ at the Met, the Star Is in the Pit... All in all, it was clear who the central figure of this “Bohème” was: the man waving the baton. These days, splashy contemporary operas and new productions get the spotlight — and get the music director. But for the sake of the company’s artistic health and vibrancy, it’s important to also have Nézet-Séguin in the pit for titles that too often get taken for granted.

    • The musical draw this time was the Met’s music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting the opera for the first time in the house. His appearance on the podium garnered an ovation that surpassed that of the audience’s first sight of nearly 240 people filling the streets of Paris in Act II. Nézet-Séguin conducted Puccini’s beloved in his much-appreciated manner – a detailed, meticulously prepared approach to the score, emotion motion drawn from every measure, shimmering pianissimi as well resounding fortes from the orchestra—yet all at the service of the drama.

  • Blanchard | Champion

    Metropolitan Opera, New York
    Apr 2023

    • In the pit, Yannick Nézet-Séguin once again proved why he’s one of the best at taking on newer works... The orchestra sounded steady throughout and you could tell he had a solid grasp on the balance required between pit and stage.

    • Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the score with fiery intensity...

  • Puts | The Hours

    Metropolitan Opera, New York
    Nov 2022

    • Yannick Nézét-Seguin, finally on the Met podium two months into the season, had the complete scope of the show in his baton and the Met Orchestra, of course, played gorgeously.

    • Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Met’s musical director, revels in the plush orchestration, full of sumptuous strings and crisp percussion.

    • Yannick Nézet-Séguin, in the pit, luxuriated in Puts’s orchestral colors without overwhelming the singers.

  • Ravel, Price, Rachmaninov | The Philadelphia Orchestra

    Verizon Hall, Philadelphia
    Oct 2022

    • Nézet-Séguin bookended the program with two grand statements on European musical virtues. In remarks from the stage, he described Ravel’s La Valse as “opulence verging on decadence” – but here, it emerged with almost impenetrable brawn.

Discography