Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Canadian conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin has had one of the most meteoric rises of any conductor of the early twenty first century. In addition to conducting virtually all the major Canadian orchestras while still in his twenties, he has established a substantial international career, leading orchestras such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Dresden Staatskapelle, and the French National Orchestra, and has built a substantial discography. He was appointed to succeed Valery Gergiev as conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra beginning in the 2008-2009 season, and that season he also began as principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic.

Born in Montreal in 1975, Nézet-Séguin early situated himself as a musical generalist, a trend he would sustain throughout his career studying piano, chamber music, choral and orchestral conducting, and composition at the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec and at Westminster Choir College. He had a lifelong admiration for the work of Carlo Maria Giulini and worked extensively with the Italian conductor during his final year of public performances.

When he was 14, Nézet-Séguin began leading rehearsals of the Chorale Polyphonique at the Montréal Cathedral, and he became the group's conductor at 19. The following year he founded Le Chapelle de Montréal, a vocal and instrumental group that began with a focus on the Baroque, but which Nézet-Séguin hopes will eventually perform a broad variety of music. In 1998, he became the chorus master and assistant music director of L'Opéra de Montréal. He was appointed artistic director and principal conductor of Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal in 2000. With the orchestra, he has recorded the works of a variety of composers, including Mahler, Bruckner, Debussy, Britten, Saint-Saëns, and Weill. He is also active as a pianist and is featured on a number of discs as soloist and accompanist.