Fresh off his first Grammy win, Montreal maestro Yannick Nezet-Seguin eyes upcoming season

Fresh off his first Grammy win with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin returned to Montreal to unveil the upcoming season of concerts with the Orchestre Métropolitain. 

The Montreal-born maestro is looking ahead to the upcoming season with gusto and welcoming back audiences at full capacity.

"Getting back to this magic of being live with an audience reacting, breathing in communion, I would say, with the music and the musicians," he said in an interview with CTV News.

But as the music director says, the music never stopped at the Orchestre Métropolitain.

The orchestra continued to perform virtually and was among the first orchestras, he said, to welcome back in-person audiences when they could.

It's been a busy year for the famed conductor. He picked up his first Grammy for best performance by a classical orchestra, though he still hasn't received the actual award.

"I haven't yet held it in my hand. Apparently, it's maybe going to take another month before I get mine," he said.

 

 

 

 

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The award was for a recording of African-American composer Florence Price, the first Black woman whose music was performed by a major American orchestra, and one of the pillars of the orchestra's upcoming season.

Other highlights include a performance with Inuk singer Elisapie and Angel Blue.

Nézet-Séguin has also had to step in — and step up — when one of Europe's best orchestras needed to replace a Russian conductor and Putin supporter.

"I've been doing what I could, helping the Vienna philharmonic when they had to cancel [Valery Gergiev] at the Met," he said. "I've been doing a big concert to benefit Ukraine, so there's ways for musical institutions to express what they believe in."

But Nézet-Séguin says the power of music is to bridge divides and unify, and even as another wave of COVID-19 crests across Canada, the waves of sound and music, he hopes, will continue to move people.

"What we've learned in the past two years, in the waiting, we've learned to listen to each other even more," he said, "and I hope this is going to be a new golden age for this city and for music at large."