The Artistic Director of the OM

Yannick Nézet-Séguin

At 32, Yannick Nézet-Séguin will succeed Valery Gergiev as the next Music Director of the prestigious Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, beginning with the 2008-2009 season. He will also continue as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal; since March 2000, he has brought this orchestra to musical summits and unequalled popularity, sharing with his musicians rigor and passion for music of different styles as well as deep respect for their audiences.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin is invited by some of the greatest orchestras in the world, such as the Dresden’s Staatskapelle, the Rotterdam, London, Stockholm, Toulouse, Birmingham, Monte Carlo, Sydney and New Zeland orchestras, the Orchestre national de France, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Swedish and the Flemish orchestras. In 2008, he will make his début with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (January) as well as with the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin (March) and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra (July).

In Canada, Yannick Nézet-Séguin is also invited to conduct the Vancouver, Toronto, Montréal, Kitchener-Waterloo, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, Quebec City, London orchestras, Les Violons du Roy, the CBC Radio Orchestra, the Ottawa National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Nova Scotia Symphony and the Victoria Symphony where he was Principal Guest Conductor from 2003 to 2006.

On the Opera scene, Yannick Nézet-Séguin was first invited by L’Opéra de Montréal (L’Elisir d’amore, Turandot, Le Barbier de Séville, La Bohème, etc.) where he has also been Musical Advisor from 2000 to 2002. Invited by many Canadian and American Houses, he conducts successively Cosi fan tutte, Faust, Lakmé, Pelléas et Mélisande, La clémence de Titus, Wozzeck, etc.

Born in Montreal in 1975, Yannick Nézet-Séguin began piano lessons at the age of five and later entered the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal where he studied piano with Anisia Campos and composition, chamber music, and conducting. He received five first prizes from this institution. While attending the Conservatoire, Yannick Nézet-Séguin also studied choral conducting at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey and, in 1995, founded the vocal and instrumental ensemble La Chapelle de Montréal. He continued his training with a number of famous conductors; among them, in 1997 and 1998, he worked with the great Italian conductor Carlo Maria Giulini for whom he still has deep affection and inspiring admiration. Over the years, he has earned many coveted prizes, such as the Virginia Parker Prize awarded by the Canada Council for the Arts and several “Prix Opus” granted by the Conseil Québécois de la Musique.

As a professional pianist, he still finds time for occasional appearances in duo recitals and chamber projects.

He records for the dynamic Canadian company ATMA Classique and all his recordings with his Orchestre Métropolitain have been awarded prizes and have received the highest comments in the specialized international magazines. Recently, his “live” recording of Bruckner’s 7th (February 2007), with the orchestre Métropolitain, was acclaimed by critics and public alike; La Mer: Debussy, Britten, Mercure was released in October 2007, and followed in November by the CD La Forêt des mal-aimés, recorded live by Pierre Lapointe and the Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, during their public performance at the FrancoFolies de Montréal, in August 2007.

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