Yannick Nézet-Séguin: ‘You’ll never see me yell’ (exclusive)

Yannick Nézet-Séguin: ‘You’ll never see me yell’ (exclusive)

Daily Comfort Zone

norman lebrecht

November 02, 2023

Our partners at Speaking Soundly have secured an exclusive interview with the music director of the Metropolitan Opera, Philadelphia Orchestra and Orchestre Métropolitain Montreal.

He happens to be the boss of David Krauss, principal trumpet of the Met, which creates a certain frisson in the conversation.

You have to listen to this podcast, right here.

David goes inside the mind of Yannick the smiler.
YNS: Do you ride horses?
David: I ride the subway.

pictured: Yannick in Paris last night

Comments

  • A.L. says:

    He yells through his garish outfits. And we see.

  • French says:

    I was at the Paris concert. Used to be a Yannick hater, but this and other recent taped performances of him I saw made me change my mind! He has been working hard and learning hard, and became a conductor who can actually give great performances. And the Philadelphia Orchestra was fantastic. Especially after the abysmal performance by the Boston Symphony a couple weeks ago.

  • Thomas M. says:

    A sensitive policy, as today’s orchestras wouldn’t wear it anyway.

    • Tiredofitall says:

      No offense, but is this a bad Google translation? If in doubt, it helps to do a reverse translation to make certain it makes sense in the original language. Not always 100%.

  • Quartet says:

    wish there wasn’t yelling in string quartets too. my friend just left a quartet because the first violinist was constantly yelling and putting her down. emotionally abusive. poor girl. he can learn a thing or two from yannick.

  • H8trsgoonaH8 says:

    The amount of vitriol and homophobia continually on display on public message boards like this is outstanding. His outfits, nail polish or hair style is not worth debating. You go to a concert to listen, not look. Does Dudamel’s hair upset you? Does Gergiev’s gesticulating finger tips get under your skin? No- I bet they don’t.

    Bottom line is Yannick is a talented human doing good, and this interview is a breath of fresh air.

    • Tiredofitall says:

      Not every comment about a gay person is necessarily homophobic. Sometimes in life a comment can be about nothing more than bad taste, immaturity, or distracting behavior. It has nothing to do with who a person loves or how they identify.

      Poor taste transcends sexual orientation or ethnicity.

    • Franktalker says:

      Well, Dudamel’s hair upsets me because it makes him and other Venezuelan conductors look like cartoonish caricatures of what a conductor is. And Gergiev’s always upset me because of his stubble and posture that makes him look like a depressed alcoholic who doesn’t give a damn.

      Yannick’s alright though, except the time he conducted a Christmas concert in a blonde Afro wig and a wife-beater t-shirt under his jacket. That was a little awkward.

    • Jobim75 says:

      I don’t like to see right away if a person is gay, or Muslim or catholic or whatever , it can get in the way of artistic performance…and extraversion reveal sometimes lack of depth, I think that’s the case with Yannick. I don’t care much about his sexual orientation.

  • Maker of Music says:

    Just heard that episode – it was delightful and I plan to listen to more. More, that is, of the podcast AND of this maestro’s music.

  • Couperin says:

    He may not yell but he’ll certainly plead with the musicians to look at him when their eyes are buried in the music because they don’t WANT to look at him. But that would be bad PR.

  • Patrick says:

    Tired of Yawnnick.

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