Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Yannick Nézet-Séguin was born in Montréal in 1975 and studied piano, conducting, composition and chamber music at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec. At the age of 19, he met Carlo Maria Giulini and followed him during rehearsals and concerts for one year, thereby gaining his formative inspiration. Following initial positions as chorus director, mainly at the Opéra de Montréal, he founded his own ensemble, La Chapelle de Montréal, in 1995.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin was appointed music director of the Orchestre Métropolitain in Montréal in 2000. He served as chief conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic from 2008 to 2018 and has helmed the Philadelphia Orchestra since 2012. Since 2018 he has also been music director of the Metropolitan Opera, New York, where he will conduct Puccini’s Turandot, Massenet’s Werther and a new production of Berg’s Wozzeck during the 2019/20 season, in addition to giving concerts with the MET Orchestra. In September, he will begin a residency at Carnegie Hall.
He performs with Europe’s leading orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, which he conducted on a European tour in spring 2019, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, of whom he is honorary member, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, where he was principal guest conductor from 2008 to 2014. In the USA, he has conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin made his Salzburg Festival debut in 2008 with Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. He has also appeared at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, La Scala, Milan, and the Vienna State Opera. He conducted Mozart’s seven last operas at the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, all of which were recorded by Deutsche Grammophon.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin has earned several honorary doctorates, is Companion of the Order of Canada, Officer of the Ordre national du Québec and Officer of the Ordre de Montréal. In 2016, he was named artist of the year by Musical America.