“I hope that at the end of my days, no one will say anymore: classical music is not for me, it’s for educated, rich, white people,” says Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
Casually, behind his jovial smile and his youthful enthusiasm, the Quebec maestro stands out as THE standard-bearer for the democratization of classical music. This is what we remember from a very flattering portrait dedicated to him by the magazine 60 Minutesbroadcast last Sunday on the American channel CBS.
Appointed in 2018 to the musical direction of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, which is counting on him to ensure its future not only artistic, but economic, Nézet-Séguin is, at 48, the antithesis of the strict, elitist and inaccessible maestro, underlines in his report the journalist John Wertheim. Quite the opposite of the intransigent and pedantic character of Lydia Tár, played by Cate Blanchett in Todd Field’s latest film.
“Music wins when everyone feels free to express who they are,” says the Quebecer, evoking on the contrary the tradition of dictatorial influence of legendary leaders like Arturo Toscanini. Yannick Nézet-Séguin is no less demanding, but having attended some of his rehearsals, he works in collegiality and good humor. It’s not for nothing that the musicians he conducts – I’ve met several of them, from the Metropolitan Orchestra as well as the Philadelphia Orchestra – seem to adore him.
Obviously, we have already known all this for a long time in Quebec. The fact remains that seeing the philosophy of Yannick Nézet-Séguin summed up in twenty minutes of reporting on the most prestigious public affairs program in the United States (with an average audience of 8 million viewers) is a pleasure. We will not pretend to be impervious to chauvinism…
“I don’t take myself seriously, but music should be taken seriously,” Nézet-Séguin told John Wertheim. It is in a way the credo of the Quebec musician. Which reconciles his two public images.
That, a bit playful, of the conductor who presents himself in front of the public – not for the Ring of Wagner, but for the opera Champion jazzman Terrence Blanchard – dressed in a hooded boxer robe. And that of the maestro who did not hesitate ten days ago to interrupt, twice rather than once, the Symphony noh 9 of Bruckner during a concert of the Philadelphia Orchestra (which he also conducts), because telephones were ringing in the room.
PHOTO FROM THE MET OPERA NEW YORK SITE
Yannick Nezet-Seguin
What Yannick Nézet-Séguin proposes, generally with a smile, is a revolution. And not just an image revolution. “He reinvents the role of the modern orchestra,” says John Wertheim, rightly, in his report.
At the Metropolitan Opera, where he is only the third musical director in 140 years of history – he succeeded James Levine, fired following a scandal of sexual misconduct –, Nézet-Séguin has blown a healthy wind of change , counting on new composers in order to attract new spectators.
His bet seems to be working, in an institution, the largest of its kind in the United States (its operating budget is 300 million US), which was struggling to renew its audience even before the pandemic. The public today is younger, more diverse, and more present.
Under the direction of Nézet-Séguin, the Met intends to present over the next five seasons 17 recent or unpublished works, in addition to two operas by Terrence Blanchard, the first African-American composer to have his works interpreted by the prestigious New York orchestra. . Her Champion was inspired by the life of bisexual boxer Emile Griffith. “We will continue to play Puccini and Verdi, specifies the maestro. The idea is not to offend the purists. But if they are wrinkled, too bad. They don’t need to come and see everything we do. »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE MET
François Girard and Yannick Nézet-Séguin discuss during the production of the opera Lohengrin of Wagner, at the Met.
The team of 60 Minutes followed the Québécois not only to New York, but to Philadelphia and Montreal, where John Wertheim saw the unique bond that unites Nézet-Séguin to the Orchester Métropolitain. He sees and hears himself. The conductor’s affection for “his” musicians is obvious. We perceive it in his exchanges with Yukari Cousineau, concertmaster of the OM, and, of course, with the violist Pierre Tourville, his longtime lover.
“Of all the musical moments in the couple’s life, we were surprised when Yannick highlighted this one: the time Pierre and Céline Dion sang the apple to him on a popular Quebec talk show,” says the American journalist, who also visited Nézet-Séguin’s parents.
“Of course, this is one of the most moving moments of my life! “, confirms the “lifetime” artistic director of the Orchester Métropolitain about his appearance on the show Live from the universemoderated by France Beaudoin.
I was less surprised than Wertheim by this statement. I love music and I love opera. I went to see Turandot of Puccini at the Met, just a few months before Nézet-Séguin took over as director. I am far, however, from being a connoisseur of symphonic music.
I confessed it to Nézet-Séguin – who no doubt noticed it – while I was covering a tour of the Symphony Orchestra in the United States a few years ago. “When people go to the cinema, do they need to be experts to appreciate a film? he asked me. We have to let ourselves be carried away by what the music makes us feel. That’s all that matters. »