Classical music: He is gifted, gay and French-Canadian. Could Yannick Nezet-Seguin be the next superstar conductor? A lot of people think so. Read why in The New York Times and hear his Carnegie Hall concert last night on NPR. What do you think?

By Jacob Stockinger

We all remember the superstar conductors, conductors like Arturo Toscanini, Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein. Even the popular media recognize them as celebrities. More recently, one could conceivably put Georg Solti, Daniel Barenboim and Valery Gergiev in the same category.

The most recent one to capture and hold the public’s imagination in such a charismatic way was Gustavo Dudamel (below), the passionate and almost hyperactive young man who emerged from poverty in Venezuela through the “El sistema” that offered free classical music education. He now is music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.

Probably the latest candidate for that elite club is Yannick Nezet-Seguin (below, in a photo by Torsten Kjelstrand/NPR with the Philadelphia Orchestra in a Carnegie Hall concert of Shostakovich, Ravel and Szymanowski that was webcast last night by NPR.) And I can think of no better introduction to him than a long profile by The New York Times critic and writer Daniel J. Wakin that appeared last weekend.

Where do you start to convey his personality? The fact that the 35-year-old French-Canadian native of Montreal is openly gay? The Tahitian Turtle Tattoo? The great reviews? The pumped-up chest that earned the short 5-5 conductor  the nickname of Mighty Mouse from renowned soprano Joyce DiDonato? His quick rise to the podium of the Philadelphia Orchestra and to the ranks of top, world-class orchestra conductors?

I doubt he will be known as Yanni, since Yanni is already reserved for the New Age composer, who also is often dubbed “Yawni.”

But the boyish conductor just might become a one-name celebrity – something like “Yannick” in the way that Bernstein was “Lenny.” He certainly projects that kind of intensity and he sure gets results.

You can make up your own mind about the man who hopes to rebuild the special “Philadelphia Sound”  of Eugene Ormandy that relied on strings the way the Chicago Symphony Sound relied on brass.

Here is a link to the profile:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/arts/music/yannick-nezet-seguin-is-at-the-top-of-the-orchestra-game.html?_r=0

And here is a link to the archived webcast of last night’s concert in Carnegie Hall. Be sure to read the “Read More” button: 

http://www.npr.org/event/music/169038777/the-philadelphia-orchestra-at-carnegie-hall

If you heard him, what did you think?

The Ear wants to hear.

---

Posted in Classical music
Tags: Arturo Toscanini, Carnegie Hall, Georg Solti, Gustavo Dudamel, Herbert von Karajan, Joyce DiDonato, Leonard Bernstein, New York Times, Philadelphia Orchestra, Valery Gergiev, Yanni, Yannick Nézet-Séguin