Yannick Nézet-Séguin

In 2008/2009, Yannick Nézet-Séguin succeeds Valery Gergiev as Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and also becomes Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 2000, he has been Artistic Director of the Orchestre Métropolitain in Montreal, gaining many awards for his work there. Born in Montreal in 1975, he studied piano from the age of five. At the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal, he studied piano (with Anisia Campos), composition, chamber music and conducting and also studied choral conducting at Westminster Choir College in Princeton. In addition, he studied with a number of conductors, among them the great Italian conductor Carlo Maria Giulini (1997-1998). He has worked with all the leading Canadian orchestras and returns regularly to the Toronto Symphony. He made his European debut in late 2004 with Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and has since received an unbroken string of re-invitations from every orchestra with which he has worked. These include orchestras such as Dresden Staatskapelle, Orchestre National de France, and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic. He recently made a highly-successful debut with the National Symphony Orchestra Washington and next season has debuts with Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra.and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. This month, he leads Rotterdam Philharmonic's Far East tour and in August makes his debut at the Salzburg Festival with a new production of 'Roméo et Juliette'. His acclaimed Canadian discography includes Mahler Symphony No.4, Saint-Saens Symphony No.3 and Bruckner Symphony No.7 (all ATMA Classique) and his debut recording with Rotterdam Philharmonc is due for release shortly. Future opera includes productions for the Met and La Scala.