Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the precocious music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, has been selected to succeed James Levine as the next music director of the Metropolitan Opera, the company announced Thursday morning. Nézet-Séguin, 41, will fully assume the role in the 2020–21 season, becoming music director designate in the 2017–18 season. However, his involvement in future artistic planning will begin immediately, according to a release.
In a live webcast from Osaka, Japan, where Philadelphia is on tour, Nézet-Séguin said, "I can’t recall a day in my life we’re I’ve been more joyful, honored, humbled to be in the footsteps of of James Levine, who’s been my hero."
The choice is no surprise among opera followers, as Nézet-Séguin's name was at the top of the list among prospective replacements for Levine. He made an auspicious house debut in 2009, leading a new production of Bizet's Carmen. And he has conducted at least one opera per season ever since, including last season's opening night production of Otello. In his review of the opera, David Patrick Stearns wrote that scenes were "conducted by Yannick Nezet-Seguin as a series of incidental solos from the orchestra, each with an imperative contribution to the dramatic moment at hand. Each was also colored and articulated with startling dramatic specificity. ... No wonder Nezet-Seguin had the most applause of anybody in the final bow."
Expected news breaks: Yannick Nézet-Séguin will succeed Levine as Met Opera’s Music Director, but not until 2020. https://t.co/SsPYmIRjkq
— Anthony Tommasini (@TommasiniNYT) June 2, 2016
In the new position, Nézet-Séguin will conduct at least five productions per season and will have "artistic authority over the company's orchestra, chorus and music staff," as well as casting, programming and commissioning choices. He will lead two productions per year during the time he is music director designate. Next season, he is scheduled to conduct one opera, Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer.
“Yannick was the clear choice of the company,” said company general manager Peter Gelb in a statement. “He is the right artist at the right time to lead us forward into a new and what I believe will be a glorious chapter in the history of the Met.”
Jessica Phillips, a clarinetist in the Met Orchestra, and David Frye, its concertmaster, joined Gelb and board members to welcome the new maestro in a webcast.
"From the moment of your debut in 2009 in Carmen, your authentic spirit and boundless energy drew out the best in everyone from the orchestra to the chorusters," Philips said. Frye added that Nézet-Séguin joins the Met at a "critical time" when the relevance of the art form is continually being challenged.
Nézet-Séguin's contract with Philadelphia runs through the 2025–26 season, though the Metropolitan Opera said that the proximity to New York will allow the maestro an easy commute between the two posts. His is also currently music director of Montreal's Orchestre Métropolitain and the Rotterdam Philharmonic. His contract with the latter ends in the 2017–18 season.
Born in 1975, one year before Levine was named the previous music director of the Metropolitan Opera, Nézet-Séguin embarked on his career as the chorus master and assistant conductor of the Montreal Opera when he was 23. He has since conducted at leading opera houses around the world.
Levine, whose poor health led to his resignation earlier this spring, welcomed Nézet-Séguin in a statement: “I offer my heartfelt congratulations to Yannick on taking the musical reins, and I look forward to seeing the good work continue under his watch.” Levine will continue to conduct at the Metropolitan Opera as its music director emeritus.