The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: Yannick Nézet-Séguin answers his critics who question why the wait and what is his vision

By Jacob Stockinger

One week ago, Yannick Nézet-Séguin (below) was named the new music director of the Metropolitan Opera.

He will start full-time in 2020.

Here is a link to the post with the announcement in Opera News:

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2016/06/03/classical-music-the-metropolitan-opera-names-yannick-nezet-seguin-as-its-next-music-director-to-succeed-james-levine/

But some critics were quick to question the choice and to wonder why he is waiting so long to officially start his new post. (He will also remain as head of the Philadelphia Orchestra until 2026.)

Chief among them were two critics for The New York Times: Zachary Woolfe and Anthony Tommasini.

Here are posts with their opinion pieces, first the one by Woolfe and then the one by Tommasini:

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2016/05/22/classical-music-should-yannick-nezet-seguin-be-the-metropolitan-operas-next-music-director-here-are-the-pros-and-cons/

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/03/arts/music/is-yannick-nzet-sguin-worth-the-wait-at-the-met.html?_r=0

But the young conductor (below in a photo by Getty Images) proved he can ably respond, which he did in an interview with the Deceptive Cadence blog by NPR or National Public Radio.

Here he is, answering his critics and explaining the time lag as well has his plans and his vision of the future at the Met:

http://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2016/06/03/480638340/the-metropolitan-opera-baton-passes-to-yannick-n-zet-s-guin

The Ear finds him convincing and thinks he wins when it comes to arguing with his critics.

What do you think?

The Ear wants to hear.