Yannick Nézet-Séguin

( yannicknezetseguin.com )

YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN

On a weekend in mid-March, Martha Argerich is supposed to play Ravel's Piano Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and that is all most ticket buyers need to know to mob the box office. The conductor could be Joe Blow.

In fact, the conductor has a much more difficult name. A 33-year-old French Canadian who is music director of the Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal (not to be confused with the far more famous Montreal Symphony, which Kent Nagano heads), Yannick Nézet-Séguin appears to be unusually ambitious and has managed to build an impressive discography of audiophile recordings with his second-rank band. A very slow, very grand Bruckner Ninth is just out that may be a bit too ambitious.

But Europe in particular is taking note. In the Netherlands, Nézet-Séguin has just been appointed music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic, succeeding no less than Valery Gergiev. In L.A., he will be able to show his stuff with Shostakovich's flashy Fifth Symphony.

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