Yannick Nézet-Séguin

(Updated since the original 2021 post) 

A native of Montreal, Canada, Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Yah-NEEK neh-ZAY Say-GAN, b. 1975, 48 years old) was the conducting coach for Bradley Cooper, who portrayed Leonard Bernstein in the 2023 movie MAESTRO. Yannick also recorded the movie's soundtrack. Your blogger is stunned that he could find the time, since he teaches conducting at the Curtis Institute and leads three orchestras and a world-famous opera company. His is a superstar conductor on the level of Gustavo Dudamel (also in his forties).

Here's a rundown. He was first named Music Director of The Philadelphia Orchestra in 2012, and subsequent contract extensions assure this position through the 2029-30 season. This makes him the first openly gay conductor of one of the "big five" orchestras in the United States, and on very sure footing indeed. 

In 2016 the Metropolitan Opera (NYC) announced that Nézet-Séguin would assume the title of Music Director beginning with the 2020-21 season, but following the termination of James Levine for sexual misconduct, he took the title two years early, beginning with the 2018-19 season.

Since 2000 Mr. Nézet-Séguin has also been Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Orchestre Métropolitain (Montreal), with whom he holds a lifetime contract.

He is a regular guest conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He will appear this July with the COE as pianist and conductor in Baden-Baden, Germany. As well, he was  Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra from 2008-2018; today he holds the title of Ehredirigent (honorary conductor) of that organization (RPO).

 

Mr. Nézet-Séguin’s partner of two decades, Pierre Tourville (shown in sunglasses behind Yannick), is the assistant principal violist of the Orchestre Métropolitain (Montreal), and they appear everywhere together. When the conductor was fêted by the city of Philadelphia some years ago, Pierre Tourville was also introduced at every stop – amazing, considering the tortured history of gay conductors. After all, Leonard Bernstein (gay) had married a woman at the advice of famed conductor Dmitri Mitropoulos, and both those men led closeted lives.

In a New York Times profile by Daniel Wakin, it was reported that “Nézet-Séguin is what the orchestra world is desperate for: a young, charismatic maestro who can win the respect, even affection, of grizzled orchestra veterans, the enthusiasm of audiences and the praise of critics, which has for him been pretty exalted.”

The 48-year-old conductor’s relative youth is reflected in his flouting of certain traditions – he frequently leads from the podium in a business suit and tie (Carnegie Hall), and he’s partial to tight V-neck sweaters and skinny jeans. Many times he conducts without a baton, in the style of Mitropoulos. While on vacation in Tahiti he acquired a turtle tattoo on his right shoulder, and his compact five-foot-five frame bursts with energy.

Again from Mr. Wakin’s NYT profile: “He seemed stunned by the ovation” (conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra in Verdi’s Requiem at Carnegie Hall). “Applause from his inner circle greeted him in the crowded dressing room. Attendants broke open bottles of sparkling wine. Mr. Nézet-Séguin embraced his companion, Mr. Tourville, looked him in the eyes and said, ‘Oui?’

‘Oui,’ Mr. Tourville answered. With an air of coronation, orchestra and Carnegie Hall executives toasted Mr. Nézet-Séguin. “

The conductor’s honors include a prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Award, Canada’s highly coveted National Arts Centre Award and the Prix Denise-Pelletier, the highest distinction for the arts in Quebec, awarded by the Quebec government.  In 2011, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Quebec in Montreal and was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2012.

Even as he ages, Mr. Nézet-Séguin has not outgrown his overtly gay traits. He bleaches his hair blond, paints his nails, wears necklaces and bracelets and has pierced ears. Not to mention his shoulder tattoo. He listens to the music of Bad Bunny (an ally and of self-professed "fluid" sexuality) when he works out, and enjoys a penchant for jazz. Your blogger was pleased to learn that his favorite singer of all time was Sarah Vaughan, as is mine (when she died in 1990, my answering machine was full of condolences from sympathetic friends and colleagues).

Oh. Need I mention that orchestras and critics wax rhapsodic?

Official web site: https://yannicknezetseguin.com/en/

A recent photo by Mark Sommerfeld: