Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor of orchestras in New York City, Philadelphia, and Montreal, wants to break down the walls that have kept some audiences from classical music and opera.
This is an updated version of a story first published on May 14, 2023. The original video can be viewed here.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin is a conductor operating at triple tempo, at once the director of three major orchestras—in Philadelphia; in his hometown of Montreal and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, which has pinned on him the hopes for rebounding from financial crisis and the bold revamping of its artistic mission. Not that you’ll catch Nézet-Séguin sweating it. At 48, he’s obliterating the stereotype of the strict, unapproachable maestro – joyfully keeping his musicians in time, his hair bleached platinum blonde and a smile all but welded to his face. Known as much for his versatility as his virtuosity, Nézet-Séguin, as we first told you in May, is reimagining the role of the modern orchestra; and its place in the soundtrack of the modern city.
You’d be forgiven for double-checking your ticket to make sure you weren’t at Madison Square Garden. This is New York’s Metropolitan Opera.
And in this corner, the maestro, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, only the third music director in the Met’s 140-year history.
He’s conducting a jazz-infused opera about a real-life boxing champion of the 1960s and 70s. All this is a radical key change from the standard Met lineup of Puccini and Verdi and Wagner.
Nézet-Séguin’s eyes reach musicians in the pit and vocalists on stage, seemingly all at once. The bounce in his baton consecrates every note.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin: It’s the cathartic moment where, “Oh my god, this is so amazing. This is so impressive. This is so intense. This is so emotional.” And this cathartic experience we feel transformed as a different person before and after listening to these pieces.
Jon Wertheim: There seems to be something sacred about your making music. Am I overstating that?
Yannick Nézet-Séguin: No. No, you’re not. I try never to take myself too seriously. But music has to be taken seriously.
A pianist by training who’s conducted the great philharmonics of Europe, Nézet-Séguin brings his sensibility to bear up and down the Eastern Seaboard. In Philadelphia, he is the current custodian of what’s been a world-renowned orchestra for more than a century. We visited in February, as the city celebrated the contract extension through 2030 of a maestro known to all by his first name.
That morning, Yannick and his musicians made the pilgrimage up the famed Rocky steps, clad in Eagles gear. He sees the orchestra – not unlike a sports team – as an instrument of cohesion in the community.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin: Hey…. hi everyone…. hi!
In the afternoon, Nézet-Séguin stopped by Philly’s premier performing arts high school to guest conduct the students.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin: I think if we were to agree to bite even more in every note like TA TA TA TA TA TA TA TA TA TA
Yannick Nézet-Séguin: That’s it, that’s what I’m talking about!
Four hundred and fifty miles due north, back home in Montreal, they speak his language in more ways than one. He has a lifetime contract with the Orchestre Métropolitain. Nézet-Séguin has led these musicians for more than 20 years; that’s his husband Pierre Toureville on viola. The depth of his connection here produces hypnotic sound. Listen to this, a rehearsal of Sibelius’ “Fifth Symphony.”
Some weeks Yannick leads performances in all three cities. Just last Saturday, he conducted a matinee in New York and the evening program in Philly. Then again, what is a conductor if not someone able to synchronize?
Yannick Nézet-Séguin: I can’t deny that it’s a very demanding schedule. And even the word “schedule” if, should I ever retire, I want to ban that word from my life.
Jon Wertheim: Do you have a favorite child among the three orchestras you conduct?
Yannick Nézet-Séguin: You cannot ask me this.
Yet one child in particular—and isn’t this always the case?—demands extra attention and TLC…
Yannick Nézet-Séguin: Can we have more importance in the third….
At the Met, the country’s largest performing arts institution, we watched him wrangle 250 musicians and singers for a production of Wagner’s “Lohengrin,” a stalwart opera that gave us the “Bridal Chorus.
