Two Grammy trophies: Yannick Nézet-Séguin can't get used to

BET À DAY

The Grammy won last year by Yannick Nézet-Séguin will no longer be alone on his tablet. He will soon be joined by two other statuettes he won on Sunday at the 65th Grammy ceremony.

In 2021 , the Quebec conductor had won the statuette for best orchestral performance for the album Symphonies 1 and 3 by Florence Price with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

On Sunday, he won the Grammy for best opera recording with the contemporary work Fire Shut Up in My Bonesby Terence Blanchard presented at the MET.

A few minutes later, he received the Grammy for best vocal solo album for the opus Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene, where he accompanies, on the piano, the American soprano Renée Fleming.

“Last year was a surprise. I never thought I would get a Grammy. You never get used to receiving a Grammy and I was very proud. To continue the harvest, this year, it's incredible,” he said in an email communication.

The 47-year-old chef and musical director feels great pride with awards which reward, each, a part of his musical life.

“Last year was with the Philadelphia Orchestra as symphony conductor. This year, it is as conductor and opera conductor of the Metropolitan Opera in New York and also as a pianist,” he said.

Special Flavor

This award, as a pianist, for Renée Fleming's album, has a special flavor for the Quebec chef.

“It comes to me even more because it is an even more intimate aspect of my person. It's a project that we really took care of, Renée Fleming and I. A project that was really close to our hearts because of its social and environmental impact, about climate change, in music and poetry,” he added.

For the chef, who n was unable to attend the gala, due to a concert with the Philadelphia Orchestra, music is a vehicle to create points, to bond, to heal together and to welcome and present, on the stages, compositions and artists from communities that have been underrepresented for too long.

“What we did with Terrence Blanchard's Fire Shut in My Bones. This is what we will continue to do in our programming just as much in Philadelphia, at the MET and at the Orchester Métropolitain”, he specified.

Written by trumpeter Terrence Blanchard, Dire Shut in My Bones was the first opera written by an African-American composer to be presented on the boards of MET since its founding in 1883.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin has just signed a contract extension until in 2030 with the Philadelphia Orchestra, which he has conducted since 2012.