“The conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who became the music director of the Metropolitan Opera last season, said on Friday that he had decided to take on a larger role nurturing its next generation of talent by leading the company’s prestigious young artist program,” writes Michael Cooper in Friday’s (10/25) New York Times. “ ‘This is really the natural extension of my role in the house,’ said Mr. Nézet-Séguin, now the artistic director of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. Since it was founded in 1980, the program has trained a number of major artists, including Dawn Upshaw, Aprile Millo, Sondra Radvanovsky and Christine Goerke. A number of its more recent graduates have emerged as house favorites in recent years … James Levine, the Met’s former music director … established the program and oversaw it for decades…. Mr. Nézet-Séguin … gave a hint of some of what he would be looking to foster in young singers—including individuality…. ‘I think what the audience wants to hear is true personalities, people who actually have something very individualized to say, and have recognizable voices—and don’t necessarily fit in a mold,’ he said.” Nézet-Séguin is also music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Posted October 29, 2019
