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Premiereloge.com

Das Rheingold triumphs at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées

On Saturday evening April 22, Yannick conducted l’Or du Rhin in a concert version with the Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest, which he happily finds regularly as honorary conductor. This work constitutes the Prologue of the Ring or Tetralogy by Richard Wagner, one of the most complete and difficult works in the repertoire, which he wishes to continue in the more or less near future. A skewer of singers of great renown contributed to the extraordinary success if we are to believe the Parisian critics. Two more concerts of Das Rheingols will happen respectively in Dortmund on Thursday evening and in Baden Baden on Saturday evening.

"The fluid musical direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin reveals with acuity and constant clarity all the components, including the most subtle" José Pons, Olyrix.

“The conductor is the keystone of a four-storey lyrical edifice, the Atlantean, on which rests the weight of the fantastic world imagined and set to music by Richard Wagner. Should we develop more to help understand the role played by Yannick Nézet-Séguin in the triumph of the concert offered by the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées this Saturday. » Christophe Rizoud, forumopera.com

"But the real winners of the evening are undoubtedly the Rotterdams Philharmonisch, magnificent in precision (impeccable brass!), in density and transparency, offering an impressive range of colors under the direction of a Yannick Nézet-Séguin with whom, visibly, the agreement was excellent (the musicians will warmly applaud the conductor at the end of the concert). In fact, the young Quebec conductor has literally conquered the public: his supple, elegant and precise gestures seem to allow him to shape the sound at will, drawing the best from the orchestra and offering a reading of the work at the firmly and poetically structured, never giving the impression of juxtaposing the "pieces to be done", but on the contrary of progressing surely, continuously, towards the luminous and resplendent final appearance of the rainbow bridge. No doubt: Yannick Nézet-Séguin has just offered the T.C.E. his entrance ticket to Wallhalla! Let's hope we won't have to wait too long to applaud the first day of a tetralogy that promises to be exceptional..." Stéphane Lelièvre, premiereloge-opera.com

(Google Translation)

"A huge part of my work now is psychology"

Montreal Gazette, Septembre 2015.