At the start of the 2008/2009 season, Yannick Nézet-Séguin succeeded Valery Gergiev as Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and became Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.  He remains Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal, a position he took up in March 2000.

A native of Montreal, he studied at the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec in Montreal and has worked with all the major Canadian orchestras and was Principal Guest Conductor of Victoria Symphony between 2003 and 2006.  At the end of the 2009/2010 season, will conduct his first Mahler Symphony No.8 in Montreal and Ottawa, using the combined forces of the Orchestre Métropolitain and National Arts Centre Orchestra.

He made a series of successful European debuts in 2004/2005 and is now a regular guest conductor of many leading orchestras, such as the Dresden Staatskapelle, Orchestre National de France, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and Chamber Orchestra of Europe.  During 2008, he made acclaimed debuts with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra (Washington), Los Angeles Philharmonic and Boston Symphony Orchestra.  Forthcoming debuts include the Chicago Symphony, Tonhalle-Orchester (Zurich), Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic and Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig.

His most recent opera productions in Canada were Gounod’s Faust for Canadian Opera (2007) and Madama Butterfly in Montreal (2008). He made an outstandingly successful debut at the 2008 Salzburg Festival conducting a new production of Gounod’s Roméo and Juliette with a cast led by Rolando Villazon and Nino Machaidze and an acclaimed debut for the Netherlands Opera in May 2009 (The Makropoulos Case).  He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in December 2009 with a new production of Carmen and productions are also planned for La Scala and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

He records for the dynamic Canadian company ATMA Classique, and his recordings with the Orchestre Métropolitain have received prizes and critical acclaim.  His most recent recordings, La Mer (a collection of works by Debussy, Britten and Mercure) and Bruckner Symphony No.9 have been widely praised and Bruckner Symphony No.8 is due for release this autumn. His first three recordings with Rotterdam Philharmonic are also scheduled for release in the near future.