Yannick: An Artist's JourneyFoundation for the Arts and Music in Asia

Following the maestro’s inspiring journey from ten-year-old budding conductor to the pinnacle of the opera world, the film captures the alchemy of the creative process and explores what it means to refine the soul of an artist. The film features invaluable footage including videos from the conductor’s childhood, interviews with his family and his mentor pianist Anisia Campos, as well as snippets of backstage rehearsals of La Traviata and Dialogues des Carmélites at the Met. This brand new documentary will be premiering at K11 Art House on September 25th, 2021, 3:00pm for Hong Kong audiences.
Hailed as a child prodigy, Canadian born conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin started to learn music when he was five years old. At only nineteen years old, he has been invited by the famous Italian conductor Carlo Maria Giulini to rehearsals and performances. At twenty years old, Nézet-Séguin was already performing with some of the major orchestras in Canada. Blessed with an immense talent, Nézet-Séguin was hired in major positions by many leading performing arts institutes at a very young age: at twenty five years old, he was hired as the Music Director of Orchestre Métropolitain; at thirty five years old, he became the Principal Conductor of Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra; at thirty seven years old, he was named as the Music Director of Philadelphia Orchestra.

Nézet-Séguin made his company debut at the Met in 2009 with Bizet’s Carmen, which was highly praised by critics and audiences alike. Since his debut, Nézet-Séguin returned every season, conducting over one hundred performances and numerous galas. In 2018, he became the third Music Director of The Met at only forty-three years old, with La Traviata as his debut in that position.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin is one of the best conductors in the classical music scene today. His passion in conducting and innovation in programming has made him a well-loved artist among peers, critics, and audience alike. The Financial Times claimed him as “The greatest generator of energy on the international podium”. In 2016, he was chosen by Musical America, one of the oldest American classical music magazines, as Artist of the Year. In the same year, he also visited Hong Kong with Philadelphia Orchestra, where local audiences were able to experience his music genius.
Susan Froemke is a non-fiction filmmaker with more than thirty documentaries to her credit, from the classic Grey Gardens (1976) to Lalee’s Kin (2001), a HBO film on poverty which was nominated for an Academy Award. She was the principal filmmaker at legendary Maysles Films in New York for more than two decades. She has long been a disciple of direct cinema, a style of filmmaking pioneered in the 1960s by the Maysles Brothers. Like cinema verité in France, direct cinema presents the drama of real life as it unfolds before the camera with minimal intervention.

Froemke and Peter Gelb, the current General Manager of the Met, have been collaborating on music documentary films since 1985, beginning with “Ozawa”, a look at the life of conductor Seiji Ozawa. Their latest collaboration includes The Opera House (2018), which tells the history of the Met from 39th street to Lincoln Center.