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Yannick Nézet-Séguin
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Born / died
1975
Movement
Contemporary classical
Location
Born in Montreal
Friends / contemporaries
Akira Kosemura, Alexandra Streliski, Alon Sariel +3 more
Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin has had one of the most meteoric rises of any conductor of the early 21st century.Spotify
Since conducting virtually all of the major Canadian orchestras while still in his twenties, he has established a substantial international career. Nézet-Séguin was born in Montreal on March 6, 1975.Spotify
He began studying piano at age five and decided on a career as a conductor at age ten after attending a performance by the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal under Charles Dutoit. He studied piano, chamber music, conducting, and composition at the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec, and he studied choral conducting at Westminster Choir College. When he was 14, he began leading rehearsals of the Chœur polyphonique de Montréal at the Montréal Cathedral; he became the group's conductor in 1994, at age 19.Spotify
That same year, Nézet-Séguin, who had a lifelong admiration for the work of Carlo Maria Giulini, was invited to follow the famed conductor for a year, observing rehearsals and concerts and working extensively with Giulini during his final year of public performances. In 1995, Nézet-Séguin founded Le Chapelle de Montréal, a vocal and instrumental group that began with a focus on the Baroque. He continued performing with this group until 2002.Spotify
From 1998 until 2002, Nézet-Séguin was the chorus master and assistant conductor of L'Opéra de Montréal. In 2000, he was named the artistic director and principal conductor of Orchestre Métropolitain du Montréal. From 2008 until 2018, he served as conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, succeeding Valery Gergiev.Spotify
From 2008 until 2014, he was the principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2012, Nézet-Séguin succeeded Dutoit as the music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra. In 2018, he was named the music director of the Metropolitan Opera, following annual appearances leading the company.Spotify
He also took on the title of Honorary Conductor with the Rotterdam Philharmonic in 2018. The following year, after extending his contract several times, the Orchestre Métropolitain du Montréal awarded Nézet-Séguin a lifetime contract. Nézet-Séguin records mainly for Deutsche Grammophon, but he has also recorded for several other labels.Spotify
In addition, he is active as a pianist and is featured on a number of discs as a soloist or accompanist. In 2019, he released several albums, including Verdi, with the Orchestre Métropolitain du Montréal and soloist Ildar Abdrazakov. An unusually active 2021 saw eight releases, including his first-ever solo piano album, Introspection, and a Grammy Award-winning recording of Florence Price's first and third symphonies with the Philadelphia Orchestra.Spotify
That year, he was the subject of Patrick Delisle-Crevier's book about his life and career, Raconte-moi Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The following year, he led the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in a cycle of Beethoven's symphonies, and he backed Lisa Batiashvili on her album Secret Love Letters, once again with the Philadelphia Orchestra.Spotify
~ Stephen Eddins & Keith Finke, Rovi
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role: interpreter · 90%instrument: conductorera: Contemporarymovement: Contemporary classical1975
Movement
Contemporary classical
How this movement sounds
texture-firstextended techniqueshybrid stylessound colorspace/silencemicro-detail
Contemporary classical listening cues: sound color and texture can matter as much as melody and harmony. Sometimes the 'main theme' is a texture rather than a tune.
You may hear extended techniques (unusual ways of playing), hybrid influences (film, jazz, folk, electronics), or very sparse, spacious writing where silence and resonance carry meaning.
Because styles vary widely, try to identify the piece's 'rules': what repeats, what changes gradually, and what counts as a structural event (a new texture, a new register, a new pulse).
A useful mindset: contemporary music can be about attention, not just about singable melody. Treat tiny changes (a new bow pressure, a shifted harmony color, a new layer) as the 'plot'.
If it feels unfamiliar, focus on one layer (a repeating figure, a bass pulse, a timbre) and track its evolution. Contemporary music often rewards close listening to small changes.
How Yannick Nézet-Séguin sounds
new harmonyrhythmic bitecolor & textureminimal patternsextended techniques
Modern/contemporary music varies wildly, but you will often hear experimentation with harmony, rhythm, and sound color as primary material.
Some strands emphasize rhythmic bite and sharp contrasts; others explore timbre and atmosphere; minimalism builds from repeating patterns and gradual change.
If the music feels less about singable melody and more about texture, pulse, or color, you are probably hearing a modern idiom.
Wikipedia
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, CC (French pronunciation: [ja.nik ne.zɛ se.ɡɛ̃]; born Yannick Séguin; 6 March 1975) is a Canadian conductor and pianist.Wikipedia
He is the music director of the Orchestre Métropolitain (Montréal), the Metropolitan Opera (New York City), and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He was the principal conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra from 2008 to 2018.Wikipedia
YouTube (channel bio)
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, CC is a Canadian conductor and pianist.YouTube
He is the music director of the Orchestre Métropolitain, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He was the principal conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra from 2008 to 2018.YouTube
Interview highlights
Built from indexed interview/masterclass transcripts (podcasts / YouTube). Quotes are direct excerpts with source links.
Interview highlights for Yannick Nézet-Séguin from 6 sources. Quotes below are direct excerpts; open the source link for context.
Topics that recur (auto): Music, Know, Think, Yeah, More, Then, Okay, Orchestra.
Source: youtube_captions · fTg503YXxzs · 0:10 · published 2015-06-22 · Open source
conductor I'm the music director of the
Source: youtube_captions · L7KWyeMIVzI · 2:47 · published 2021-03-15 · Open source
Well, we don't know exactly for whom Wolfgang
Source: youtube_captions · cDfyR9pZQys · 1:06 · published 2023-09-03 · Open source
I was very excited to be on this project, the story that we're telling,
Source: youtube_captions · jLQ8VzeTxgg · 0:00 · published 2023-02-27 · Open source
Well, Jennifer, welcome to Philly, welcome to our orchestra, and Nicole and I, it was important for us to meet you ahead of this really important week for us to have this fantastic piece performed again by the orchestra after way too much time, way too long. So maybe if you would start by introducing yourself so that our viewers know exactly what a fantastic person you are. Oh, thank you. Well, I'm Jennifer Randolph. I am William Dawson's great niece, and so I'm excited when people are excited about his music, his contribution. He was amazing, he was incredibly inspiring, and I am more than excited to see what you do (Yannick chuckles) with this piece. No pressure! I think it's very important for me as music director, but for everyone in the organization, to look into the past of the orchestra and try to honor our past because it's a very rich past but some of it has remained famous. For example, we keep playing Rachmaninoff because it's part of our DNA and our past. But because that took such importance, and we still should honor this and we are, we overlooked some other really important moments of our past, especially under Leopold Stokowski Yeah. and Eugene Ormandy. And those conductors premiered a lot of pieces and commissioned a lot of composers, and one of those pieces that was premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra is this "Negro Folk Symphony" by William Dawson. And so as part of our researchers of repertoire, I came across this piece and just thought, well, this is a complete masterpiece from beginning to the end. And I think you brought some- I did. I did. Some things, and I'm sorry to jump to this because I'm very excited. The first piece I thought would be interesting was a passport that he used when he went to Africa. Oh my goodness. And was inspired by that, and we know that it was a tremendous influence and that he came back and that he was so inspired, and that he had a chance to just hear and feel what was happening for him and experience stepping back in the context of your own history, and to bring back the best of that and to share it with what we term African American now is incredible. And the fact that it's been forever since the entire piece has been performed. Then I brought the lapel pins that he would select to wear during performance. Oh my goodness. And offer you an opportunity if you are so interested in perhaps wearing one during the performance. (Yannick gasps in disbelief) I was told you might might favor the bling there, you know. Well, it would be such an honor. I have to say this one is, they're all gorgeous. Maybe between this diamond or this pink one. Yeah, yeah. Because as you can tell, I love pink (Jenifer laughs) and I think this is, but that would be very, very special for me if you offer this to me and allow me, Absolutely, absolutely. I definitely will. I think it'd be wonderful. And we'll feel hopefully that his spirit will be even more Absolutely. with all of us. Thank you. Absolutely. Oh my goodness. I thought you'd really enjoy this one with the photograph of him with Stokowski. Oh! When they were reviewing the symphony. Wow. I didn't know if you all In the manuscript. had that in your archives. What I do here, I'm the music librarian, so I'm basically the curator of all the sheet music. And throughout my career, I've always been passionate about underrepresented composers, particularly people of Color, 'cause they look like me. And what I see in my job is that oftentimes gatekeeping happens in ways in which we don't know, and sheet music is one of those things. I went to our friends at the Fleischer Collection here in Philadelphia where they convinced the state and the government at large, that it was of everyone's best interest to preserve the music of American composers. And so William Dawson submitted his score in 1940 for them to copy, and they created this facsimile score. Oh boy. Here we are. And a set of parts from that. Oh my goodness, look at this. Please open it. I'm almost afraid to move through the pages. Oh. Wow! Well. Look at that. "Dedicated to Dr. Leopold Stokowski." Isn't that amazing? Oh. First movement. And a fun story before we move on here. As you see here in red, you see there's a notation here that says "The church bell should be about 17 inches in diameter and left free to ring when struck." From the original performance until now there is a series of chimes that ring. Those chimes are to symbolize the lives lost to slavery in the transport from Africa Oh wow. to here. And you hear it in the original recording with Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra, but after that, you don't hear it in any other recording. So to see this here and those will be restored. We will hear those in the performance. That's amazing. So I just wanted Oh my gosh. to bring that note. Oh, look at that. This is gonna inspire me also in my own studying. This is just incredible. Thank you for sharing this. Absolutely. He was definitely a renaissance man in terms of that interest in travel. Incredibly self-taught. His father was not an overwhelming champion of education and he ran away because he wanted that education. Yeah. And worked hard in order to get that. He put his sisters through school. And my grandmother was one of those. She was a music teacher, she was a music major, so she followed in his footsteps. Do you think you know, that this was part of having to be, to stand up for himself so much in that time that he felt like he needed to be and probably indicate to his family that one needed to be even better? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Well, think about his contemporaries, so, W. E. B. Du Bois and other luminaries that are supreme historical figures within the Black community, and what they were trying to do to help Black people rise. And so he lived by example. I think that filtered in all the work that Black and Brown people were doing at this time in terms of that need to be better than expected because of the times. Very much so. Well, I have to say that I'm amazed and maybe slightly disappointed that there's not more orchestral music. You know, because the symphony is, you know, I haven't conducted it yet so I'm still in the process of just studying. But it's amazing, the strong orchestration sense for it, and I'm sure that our audiences are gonna be blown away by this piece. It's amazing how many times he was able to go to Africa, and to come back and the impact on his music, the impact on how he structured what he called the "Negro Folk Song", instead of spirituals. The way that he was able to recreate sort of the sensibilities from Africa and how he wanted to bring that back, and how it changed in terms of arrangements and moods that he was trying to create is incredible, so it'll be special. Well, Jennifer, I can't tell you how special it is for you to be here. I feel that it's a very important moment for the history of our orchestra and for American music. And to feel your enthusiasm and knowledge, we feel definitely many steps closer- Oh yeah. to Dawson's music. And we will certainly, and not only we look forward to it, but we really want everyone to experience the genius of your great-uncle. And yeah, I can't wait to welcome you in the audience and hear your thoughts. I cannot wait to see the magic that you're going to create, so it's gonna be a really wonderful evening. Thank you. Thank you.
Source: youtube_captions · s3k72l9bKZk · 0:08 · published 2019-01-13 · Open source
name is Clark Morris I'm the director of
Source: youtube_captions · gZEFMYfOuAI · 0:47 · published 2012-06-15 · Open source
the music now that I'm getting confused.
Transcript sources (16)
Source: youtube_captions · en
Open source
Published: 2015-06-22
Indexed: 2026-07-27T22:59:08.505Z
Source: youtube_captions · en
Open source
Published: 2021-03-15
Indexed: 2026-07-27T04:59:03.355Z
Source: youtube_captions · en
Open source
Published: 2023-09-03
Indexed: 2026-07-27T04:58:57.760Z
Source: youtube_captions · en
Open source
Published: 2023-02-27
Indexed: 2026-07-12T02:14:18.061Z
Source: youtube_captions · en
Open source
Published: 2019-01-13
Indexed: 2026-06-21T02:12:02.260Z
Source: youtube_captions · en
Open source
Published: 2012-06-15
Indexed: 2026-06-14T02:34:14.335Z
Source: youtube_captions · en
Open source
Published: 2022-01-27
Indexed: 2026-06-01T19:57:21.919Z
Source: youtube_captions · en
Open source
Published: 2014-10-31
Indexed: 2026-05-24T02:17:24.851Z
Source: youtube_captions · en
Open source
Published: 2023-10-18
Indexed: 2026-05-17T07:24:55.193Z
Source: youtube_captions · en
Open source
Published: 2021-08-20
Indexed: 2026-05-05T13:35:41.858Z
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France Musique · published 2026-06-27
Siegfried de Richard Wagner au Théâtre des Champs-Elysées
2026
FreeFull concert
Open in France Musique
France Musique · published 2026-03-20
Yannick Nézet-Séguin dirige les Symphonies de Schumann
2026
FreeFull concert
Open in France Musique
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Carnegie Hall · published 2026-02-19 · 3m
Mahler Symphony Cycle with Yannick Nézet-Séguin
2026Symphony3m
Free
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YouTube · published 2024-05-16 · 24m
Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan and Yannick Nézet-Séguin on Maestro Live Concert & Conversation
202424m
FreeLongLive
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Carnegie Hall · published 2024-05-16 · 0m
NYO-USA All-Stars featuring Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Daniil Trifonov | Carnegie Hall+
20240m
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Carnegie Hall · published 2024-05-16 · 3m
NYO-USA All-Stars with Yannick Nézet-Séguin: Shostakovich’s “Leningrad” Symphony | Carnegie Hall+
2024Symphony3m
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YouTube · published 2021-02-12 · 31m
Alexander Malofeev、Yannick Nézet-Séguin ｜The Philadelphia Orchestra｜S.Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3
2021Concerto31m
FreeLongLive
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YouTube · published 2020-08-06 · 32m
Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin | Shostakovich
202032m
FreeLongLive
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YouTube · published 2020-02-13 · 3h 1m
2019 CIMC Final with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra
20193h 1m
FreeFull concertLongLive
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YouTube · published 2019-02-13 · 59m
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 1 D major (Yannick Nézet-Séguin) | BR-KLASSIK
2019Symphony59m
FreeFull concertLongLive
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YouTube · published 2016-08-07 · 1h 26m
Mahler - Symfonie nr. 10 - Yannick Nézet-Séguin | Concert
20161h 26m
FreeFull concertLongLive
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YouTube · published 2011-08-09 · 2h 7m
Tsjaikovski - De Notenkraker | Yannick Nézet-Séguin | Concert
20112h 7m
FreeFull concertLongLive
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STAGE+ (locked): Yannick Nézet-Séguin
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