Nezet-Seguin at the top of his game....

[maestrob]

Another surprise, he said, was the music directorship of the Philadelphia Orchestra, which came 18 months after his debut with the orchestra, in December 2008, conducting Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6. With perfect pitch he told the Philadelphia players at their first rehearsal that he had listened to Eugene Ormandy’s recording of the work with the Philadelphians over and over. It was the kind of reference to musical tradition that he often makes.

“It felt from the first moment that we had known each other in a previous life,” Mr. Nézet-Séguin said.

The orchestra has been adrift, held together by the caretaker leadership of Charles Dutoit, for many years the music director of the Montreal Symphony. Philadelphia emerged from bankruptcy proceedings last year, the first major American orchestra to go that route.

Mr. Nézet-Séguin said his main goal in Philadelphia was “to grab the city again, to transform the pride the city has toward its orchestra to a much more proactive pride, a real passion for it, a sense of ownership.”

At that last Carnegie outing, the Verdi Requiem in October, Mr. Nézet-Séguin held his hand up for a good 20 seconds after the final chord expired before dropping his arms to his sides. He seemed stunned by the ovation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/arts/ ... wanted=all

[josé echenique]

I don´t know why he seemed stunned by the ovation. After his MET Don Carlo we cheered him like crazy.
That was genuine great Verdi conducting, something that I have heard only from Giulini, Abbado and Muti.

[Ken]

I saw him in Essen in 2011, he seems to have earned quite a following here in Germany since the days of his Rotterdam gig. I believe he also performed with the Berliner Philharmoniker last year; not too shabby for a Canadian boy!

[slofstra]

I saw him in Essen in 2011, he seems to have earned quite a following here in Germany since the days of his Rotterdam gig. I believe he also performed with the Berliner Philharmoniker last year; not too shabby for a Canadian boy!

He guest conducted the K-W Symphony on a few occasions when our orchestra was auditioning for our second last artistic director. I had my hopes up that he was one of the candidates for the position, but alas, he was not. (The public is not told whether someone is auditioning for the position or a guest conductor helping to bridge the gap.) At that time, 2005, he guest conducted across Canada with various mid size orchestra, and his main gig was with the Orchestre Métropolitain in Montreal.

Nezet-Sequin was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2012.

[piston]

There you go, practice the pronunciation and DO NOT say Say-Gun or Say-Guinn!!

Of course, I'm very proud of my French-Canadian compatriot's achievements and, while active here, three or so years back, did post about his emergence on the big artistic scene.

[piston]

And, by the way, if you want to know how I sound like in English, it's pretty much similar.....

[piston]

The first name Yannick and the surname Séguin are widespread in French Canada, but Nézet is totally unusual. I assume that his immigrating grand-father was his mother's father, a Nézet, from Brittany.

[Steinway]

I'm seeing him conduct my favorite symphony, the Shostakovich 5th on Friday afternnon.

Can't wait for this one!