There is big news in the music world today. For the first time in over forty years The Metropolitan Opera has a new music director. The New York Times reported today that the company is “passing the baton long held by James Levine to Yannick Nezet-Seguin.” To his friends and colleagues he is known simply as Yannick. To those of us in the audience, he’s known for what the Times refers to as “his vital, visceral brand of music making.”

There have been whispers throughout the music industry since as far back as 2008 that The MET was grooming him to one day take the reigns of what Seguin calls “the standard-bearer of our art form throughout the world,” but it’s been a complicated changing of the guard. Complicated primarily because of the fact the James Levine, the now retired music director of The MET, is a beloved figure whose four decade tenure at the company was transformational. He is credited with turning The Met orchestra into one of the best ensembles in the world and has almost single-handedly shaped the modern history of the company. He’s conducted more than 2,500 performances, choosing repertoire and nurturing many careers. 

Levine has had a series of very serious health problems over the past decade. He suffered a spinal injury that nearly benched his career altogether in 2011 but he returned to full-time duties in 2013. More recently, has been suffering from Parkinson’s disease and, as recently as February, it appeared as though he might hang on for another season, or two. 

However, in April the company announced that Levine would retire at the end of the current season. His last world-wide broadcast was heard here in Austin almost exactly one month ago and just last week he lead a critically acclaimed performance of portions of Wagner’s Ring Cycle at Carnegie Hall. 

In October, Nezet-Seguin lead The Metropolitan Opera’s in a new production Giuseppe Verdi’s masterpiece Otello which was broadcast in HD to movies theaters around the world including here in Austin.

I had the great pleasure of speaking with him at that time and even then there was breaking news about the maestro just as I walked into record our conversation.

The article below, with corresponding audio, was originally published October 16, 2015.

It’s been a busy week amid a very busy year for Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Currently in New York leading performances of Verdi’s Otello at The Metropolitan Opera, he’s also just been named Artist of the Year by Musical America. The award puts him on the cover of “Musical America Worldwide: The International Directory of Performing Arts.” It’s a publication considered to be the Bible of the classical music business, and will be seen throughout the following year by the most influential decision makers in the industry. He joins the rank of past award recipients such as Leonard Bernstein, James Levine, and Itzhak Perlman.

In January, The Philadelphia Orchestra announced that his contract as music director would be extended through the 2021-22 season. Since then, he’s lead his orchestra and a chorus of about 500 voices in a papal Mass held in Philadelphia during the recent visit by Pope Francis and thrown out the first pitch at a Phillies Game.

He took a few minutes out of his hectic schedule to talk with KMFA’s music director Chris Johnson about Verdi’s Otello. Click the orange audio play button above to hear their conversation.

The next broadcast of The Met’s “Live in HD” series, which will be led by Nézet-Séguin, can be seen at one of seven theaters in the Austin area this Saturday, October 18, 2015 at 12 p.m.