YANNICK NEZET-SEGUIN; born Yannick Séguin; is a Canadian (Québécois) conductor and pianist. He is currently music director of the Orchestre Métropolitain (Montréal), the Metropolitan Opera, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He was also principal conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra from 2008 to 2018.

At 19, he met and was invited to follow Carlo Maria Giulini in rehearsals and concerts for more than a year. He became the musical director of the Chœur polyphonique de Montréal in 1994 and obtained the same post at Choeur de Laval in 1995. In 1995, he founded his own professional orchestral and vocal ensemble, La Chapelle de Montréal, with whom he performed two to four concerts a year until 2002. He considers Charles Dutoit as his first inspiration as a child and Carlo Maria Giulini as his master. From 1998 to 2002, Nézet-Séguin was chorus master, assistant conductor and music adviser of the Opéra de Montréal. Maestro Nézet-Séguin made his American conducting debut in 2002 at Sarasota Opera conducting Mozart’s “Così fan tutte.”

In 2005, Nézet-Séguin guest-conducted the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (RPhO) for the first time, and returned in 2006. In December 2006, the RPhO announced the appointment of Nézet-Séguin as their 11th Principal Conductor, by a unanimous vote, starting with the 2008–09 concert season, with an initial contract of four years. In April 2010, the RPhO announced the extension of his contract through 2015. With the RPhO, Nézet-Séguin has recorded commercially for Virgin Classics and for EMI. In June 2013, the RPhO further extended his contract through the summer of 2018. In May 2015, the RPhO announced the conclusion of Nézet-Séguin’s tenure as RPhO principal conductor at the end of the 2017–2018 season. He now has the title of Eredirigent (honorary conductor) of the RPhO.

In December 2008, Nézet-Séguin made his first appearance with the Philadelphia Orchestra, at the invitation of Charles Dutoit. He returned for a second guest-conducting engagement in December 2009. In June 2010, he was named the eighth Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, starting with the 2012–13 season. 

Nézet-Séguin began annual appearances with the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 2009, making his début on 31 December 2009, conducting a new production of Carmen. There followed Don Carlo in 2010 and in 2015, Faust in 2011, La traviata in 2013, and Rusalka in 2014. He opened the Met’s 2015–16 Season in September 2015 conducting a new production of Verdi’s Otello, and returned in 2017 to conduct Der fliegende Holländer. In June 2016, the Metropolitan Opera announced the appointment of Nézet-Séguin as the next music director, effective with the 2020–2021 season, with an initial contract of four years. He took the title of “music director-designate” as of the 2017–18 season. In February 2018, the company announced that Nézet-Séguin would take the title of music director two years early, as of the 2018–2019 season, following the Met’s termination of James Levine for sexual misconduct.

Nézet-Séguin resides in Montreal and Philadelphia with his husband Pierre Tourville, a violist in the Orchestre Métropolitain. He has multiple pets, and has made a playlist on Spotify and Apple music for pets to listen to as part of his social media activities. His most recent project was as one of the music/conducting consultantd to Bradley Cooper’s Oscar-nominated Maestro.