Posted at 6:00 a.m.
At the time of our telephone interview, the conductor had just returned from an important European tour with the Philadelphia Orchestra. The concert he was to offer at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London, on September 8, made him step into great history.
“We had just done two concerts at the Philharmonie de Paris. Normally we have a day break between two cities, but not this time. So we arrived in London by train in the early afternoon. One of the first things I heard was that the queen wasn’t well. Immediately we had meetings with the management of the orchestra and the BBC in order to have a plan in case the concert the following day was cancelled. »
specify that Isle of the Dead, by Rachmaninoff, was on the program. It was out of the question that this work be performed. And then, protocol requires, it was necessary to plan the famous God Save the Queen. But how do we prepare for such changes in such a short time?
“The BBC provided us with scores orchestrated by Henry Wood, the founding conductor of the Proms, the festival we were to take part in. We rehearsed the work an hour and a half before the time of the concert and, a few minutes later, we learned that the queen had just died. The concert was cancelled, but we were asked to play the God Save the Queen. »
Someone from the Philadelphia Orchestra then reminded Yannick Nézet-Séguin that in the tour trunks were the scores of three works intended for this “kind of situation”: the second movement of the Symphony noh 7 of Beethoven, theAdagio of Samuel Barber and the sublime Nimrod of Elgar. The choice fell on this third piece.
“The BBC agreed to let us do it. We played it without rehearsing. It was a very moving moment. The spectators wept. The disappointment of not doing the concert is minimal when you realize the honor we had to play the God Save the Queen and the Nimrod for the British. It’s something I will never forget. »
No more time to waste
I hadn’t spoken to Yannick Nézet-Séguin since the Orchester Métropolitain’s European tour in December 2017. After that, it was New York’s ascent, its whirlwind and its vertigo. But also the darkness of the pandemic. Like everyone else, the chef isolated himself. And like everyone else, he emerged transformed by this planetary experience. For him, this translates into “an urgency to respond to the concerns of our time”.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
The pandemic has made me realize that I have no more time to waste. It is not by doing things in small doses that we will move forward. We must put into action what our ideas and our words already say. Looks like the pandemic has caused me to put my foot down.
Yannick Nezet-Seguin
In each of the cities he occupies – Montreal, New York and Philadelphia – as well as in each place where he will be invited, the conductor intends to use his art to promote “a more inclusive future that honors the beautiful tradition of past works, but which also converses with our time”.
It was when taking over the management of the Metropolitan Opera in 2018 that Yannick Nézet-Séguin truly became aware of the effect that his artistic choices can have. “I felt that with the Metropolitan Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra. But I think I let myself be held back by all sorts of considerations. I saw these great cultural institutions as liners that do not move easily. And then, there is always this fear of disturbing the public. I decided to wipe the slate clean and go for it. »
A recent event symbolizes this desire to be an actor in the changes of our time. Returning from his European tour, the conductor reunited with his family at the Metropolitan Opera in New York for an extraordinary experience. With around thirty musicians and the children’s choirs of the Met, he welcomed Little Amal, this giant puppet representing a little girl and whose presence in several cities around the world aims to raise public awareness of the situation of migrant children. , especially that of Syrian children.
PHOTO ED JONES, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Little Amal circulating in the streets of New York. She is seen here near St. Patrick’s Cathedral on September 18.
On September 14, La Petite Amal entered Terminal 4 at JFK airport to the sound of an excerpt from Satyagraha, an opera by Philip Glass that addresses the themes of exile and resistance. “This idea came from the Met, told me Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Peter Gelb [le directeur général] and I offered to be present to welcome this puppet that I had heard about. It is by making gestures like this that we can provide emotion and show that music can soften painful moments. »
Elisapie’s admirer
Yannick Nézet-Seguin wants to feel freer in his choices. This appeared during the European tour with the Philadelphia Orchestra where several creations were part of the programs. This combination of past and present, oriented towards inclusion and diversity, is also very present in the 2022-2023 season of the Orchester Métropolitain.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Elisapie
In the programs that will be offered at the Maison symphonique, at Bourgie Hall and in many churches, no less than nine works will be performed for the first time. Through this, we will find a strong feminine presence. Twelve works are by female composers and four conductors will parade in front of the desk.
In the mouth of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the words “links”, “connections” and “relationships” often come up, especially when it comes to the composer Elisapie, whose work nunami nipiit (Echoes of the Earth) will be premiered on Sunday by the Orchester Métropolitain.
Even if we don’t speak Inuktitut, the music helps us understand what Elisapie means. We feel emotions, we see landscapes. This is why music has always been a common ground and meeting ground.
Yannick Nezet-Seguin
It’s on the occasion of the show The Great Solstice, in 2021, that the conductor and the composer met. “I have always been one of his admirers,” says Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Then I had the idea of doing something with her and the whole orchestra. »
Last year, the Orchester Métropolitain’s season opened with a work by Aboriginal composer Barbara Assiginaak. Yannick Nézet-Séguin decided to make it a “tradition” by inviting Elisapie this year. “I find it symbolically important that we start our seasons with music that comes from the First Nations [et des Inuits]. That’s where everything comes from and that’s the territory we share with them. »
nunami nipiit will be presented before Daphnis and Chloe, by Maurice Ravel. Yannick Nézet-Seguin believes that the French composer’s way of “elevating nature” goes wonderfully well with Elisapie’s work.
With his tenure as regular conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra over, I asked the man who turned 47 last March if the fact that his three “houses” are concentrated in North America gives him greater stability. . “Not really,” he said with a laugh.
Indeed, the man continues to travel the planet, reaping a prize here (a Grammy for the “best orchestral performance of the year” with the recording of Symphonies noh 1 and 3 of Florence Price at Deutsche Grammophon), there an honor (he was made an officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in Paris).
Through it all, he has given himself a small mission of nothing at all: to change the world through music. How can you resist such a source of inspiration?
Orchestral Aurorasat the Maison symphonique this Sunday, 3 p.m.