Biography

Yannick Nézet-Séguin was born on March 6, 1975, in Montreal. The Canadian conductor studied piano, conducting, composition and chamber music at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec in Montreal, and choral conducting at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, before going on to perfect his skills with renowned conductors, primarily the Italian maestro Carlo Maria Giulini. By the time he began his European career in 2004, he had already formed his professional vocal and instrumental ensemble, La Chapelle de Montréal, and conducted the major orchestras in Canada.

He has worked with several prestigious orchestras and maintains close collaborations with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra (Munich) and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. From 2008 to 2014, he was principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He has participated several times in the BBC Proms as well as in many festivals in Europe including those of Edinburgh, Lucerne, Salzburg and Grafenegg (Vienna). In North America, he regularly participates in the Mostly Mozart (New York), Lanaudière, Vail and Saratoga festivals. With the Philadelphia Orchestra, he performs regularly at Carnegie Hall. He also gives master classes, notably at two of the most renowned institutions, the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and the Julliard School in New York.

The year 2013-2014 marked the beginning of his three-year residency at the Konzerthaus Dortmund during which he conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras as well as several chamber orchestras.

He regularly conducts the Philadelphia and Rotterdam orchestras as well as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe on Asian and European tours; in November 2017, he conducted the Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal on its first-ever European tour.

He is equally at home in opera and in concert. After making his debut at the Opéra de Montréal from 2000 to 2004 in L'Incoronazione di Poppea, The Barber of Seville, Cosi fan tutte, Pelléas et Mélisande and L'Elisir d'amore, he returned sporadically for Wozzeck, Madame Butterfly, Salomé and Elektra. He made his debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2008 with a new production of Gounod's Roméo et Juliette and returned in 2010 and 2011 for Don Giovanni. He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera (MET) in the 2009-2010 season in a new production of Bizet's Carmen; he has since returned to the MET each season to conduct Don Carlo, Faust, La Traviata, Rusalka, Otello, Der Fliegende Hollander, Parsifal and Elektra before becoming its music director. In his first season in this position, he conducted La Traviata, Pelléas et Mélisande and Dialogues des Carmélites. He has conducted at the Teatro alla Scala (Milan), the Royal Opera House (Covent Garden, London), the Netherlands Opera (Amsterdam) and the Vienna Staatsoper (Vienna). In 2011, he undertook the cycle of Mozart's last seven operas for the Festspielhaus Baden Baden, all recorded live by Deutsche Grammophon. In September 2018, Yannick Nézet-Séguin became the third Music Director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 2012, and of the Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal since 2000, he became Honorary Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, where he was Music Director from 2008 to 2018. He is also an Honorary Member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

Source: yannicknezetseguin.com