Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Solo Dancers: Maria Kowroski & Martin Harvey

Production: Richard Eyre

Set & Costume Designer: Rob Howell

Lighting Designer: Peter Mumford

Choreographer: Christopher Wheeldon

As well as triumphant successes as Carmen in London, Vienna and Munich, Elīna Garanča, “the Carmen of our day” (News, Austria), took New York’s Metropolitan Opera by storm in this ‘Met Live in HD’ performance, transmitted to cinemas around the world and now available for the first time on BluRay. Starring alongside her is star tenor Roberto Alagna as Don José, Barbara Frittoli as his first love Micaëla and New Zealand baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes as the toreador Escamillo. The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra is conducted by rising star Canadian maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Extra material: Backstage at the Met with host Renée Fleming: Interviews with Elīna Garanča and Roberto Alagna as well as with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Barbara Frittoli, Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Christopher Wheeldon.

Format: BD-50

Region: 0 (All regions)

Picture format: 1080i60 HD 16:9

Duration: 150 mins (opera)/ 23 mins (extras)

Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish

Classification: Exempt

In a very short time, Yannick Nézet-Séguin has become one of the most sought-after young conductors in the world, popular with orchestras and audiences alike. Recently named as Music Director Designate of the Philadelphia Orchestra, he succeeded Valery Gergiev as Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008. He is also Chief Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

For the first of four projected discs with BIS, Nézet-Séguin and his Rotterdam players have recorded Hector Berlioz’ masterpiece Symphonie fantastique, in a full-blooded and luxurious performance which at the same time respects the work’s classical proportions

The work is here followed by the ‘lyrical scene’ Cléopâtre (often referred to as La Mort de Cléopâtre), composed shortly before as Berlioz’ entry in the competition for the prestigious Prix de Rome.

Performing the part of Cleopatra is the electrifying soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci in one of her rare appearances on disc.

"He [Yannick Nézet-Séguin] makes the Rotterdam Orchestra sound word-class.” The Times

Following recorded forays into the modern, with newly composed concertos by Dalbavie and Pintscher, and into the Baroque, with Bach’s complete flute sonatas, Emmanuel Pahud performs a programme of virtuoso operatic fantasies with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and its exciting young Canadian music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Emmanuel Pahud’s ‘Night at the Opera’ features fantasies on Rigoletto by Franz (1821–83) and Karl (1825–1900) Doppler, Der Freischütz by Claude-Paul Taffanel (1844–1908), Die Zauberflöte by Robert Fobbes (b.1939), La traviata (for two flutes) by Emanuele Krakamp (1813–83) and Carmen by François Borne (1840–1920) in an orchestral arrangement by Raymond Meylan. We are also treated to Lensky’s aria from Eugene Onegin, arranged by Guy Braunstein, and familiar flute solos from opera, including the entr’acte from Bizet’s Carmen and Gluck’s Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Orfeo ed Euridice. Juliette Hurel, solo flute of the Rotterdam Philharmonic, joins Pahud in the works for two flutes. The digital bonus track is the Menuet from Bizet’s L’Arlésienne.

Stephen Johns, Vice President A&R, EMI Classics, says, “This recording showcases Emmanuel Pahud’s extraordinary technique and musicianship, while presenting familiar and beautiful tunes from the greatest operas.”

Pahud recently described the background to his latest album: “In the 18th and 19th centuries, there was a tradition of salon music because people did not have CD or MP3 players as we have nowadays. They had no access to the internet or the radio so they would have to have transcriptions in order to hear this music in their homes. While Mozart was writing his Magic Flute, there were already people who, when they were rehearsing it in the theatre, were writing down the music and arranging it for duets and quartets so they could play it, like a jukebox, at home. Then in the 19th century the music became more virtuosic, because the instruments had developed and, while there was Paganini on the violin and Liszt on the piano, there were people like Doppler, Boehm, Krakamp and Taffanel developing the flute and repertoire for the flute in various countries. And they wrote transcriptions and very virtuosic pieces with lots of notes in them for the new, improved flute made of metal and with keys.”

“All the pieces on this album have been transcribed or were written in a version for flute and piano in the 19th century, apart from two. One of these is Lensky’s aria, arranged as a fantasy for violin and piano by our Berlin Philharmonic concert master Guy Braunstein. As a present, he made a flute version of that transcription for me. I had the idea of adding it to this collection of opera favourites in an orchestration that reinstates the original sound of Tchaikovsky in the orchestra. The other piece that is more recent is the variations on Die Zauberflöte. I had to include The Magic Flute in this collection. But I did not know of any satisfying version until I discovered this one on a recording by a Belgian colleague. It turns out it had been composed for him by a friend as a birthday surprise.”

Emmanuel Pahud, one of today’s most exciting and adventurous musicians, demonstrates his mastery of and sympathy for music composed over nearly three centuries. Principal Flute of the Berliner Philharmoniker since the age of 22, with the exception of a year-and-a-half-long sabbatical, Pahud has also appeared as soloist with many of the world’s other leading orchestras under such conductors as Abbado, Rattle, Zinman, Maazel, Gergiev, Gardiner, Harding, Järvi, Pinnock, Jordan and the late Mstislav Rostropovich. As a recitalist, Pahud collaborates with Eric Le Sage, Yefim Bronfman and Hélène Grimaud and he performs jazz with Jacky Terrasson. Pahud appears regularly at the major festivals in Europe, North America and the Far East.

Since signing an exclusive solo recording contract with EMI Classics in 1996, Emmanuel Pahud has recorded a broad range of repertoire to wide critical acclaim. Sales of his CDs number in excess of 400,000 worldwide. His EMI discography is set to be one of the most significant contributions to recorded flute music. His most recent releases include the Bach Complete Sonatas, newly composed concertos by Dalbavie, Jarrell and Pintscher and the Nielsen Flute Concerto (and Wind Quintet) with the Berliner Philharmoniker/Simon Rattle. In October 2009, Pahud was named Instrumentalist of the Year (Flute) at the Echo Klassik awards for his Bach Flute Sonatas CD.

“Emmanuel Pahud, flautist supreme.” The Times

The exciting young conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who succeeded Valery Gergiev as Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra last season, makes his EMI Classics debut with the Orchestra in an all-Ravel programme. The repertoire features the composer’s greatest orchestral works: Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2, Valses nobles et sentimentales, La Valse and Ma mère l’Oye.

For Nézet-Séguin, Maurice Ravel is the greatest orchestrator French music has ever had: “It’s all about colours” Yannick says, “and the contrast between intimacy and grandness, La Valse being one of his greatest and most powerful symphonic poems and the Valses nobles et sentimentales being much more intimate (…).Daphnis and Chloe is one of his most uplifting and triumphant works while Ma mère L’Oye is so intimate.” This disc explores the enormous variety of Ravel’s orchestral music through three of his particular themes: his fascination with childhood; his interest in the culture and character of Ancient Greece; and a near obsession with waltzes of all kinds. Indeed the collection is suffused with dance, ballet and rhythmic energy.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin (b Montreal, 1975) studied piano, chamber music, composition and conducting at the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec and choral conducting at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J. He took master classes with leading conductors, among them Carlo Maria Giulini. After receiving the Virginia-Parker Award in 2000, he was invited to conduct all the major Canadian orchestras. He continues to work regularly with the Toronto Symphony and was Principal Guest Conductor of the Victoria Symphony from 2003-2008.

“Renaud Capuçon is one of today's outstanding violinists – less flashy than some, but a fabulously musical player who is as remarkable a chamber player as he is a concerto soloist,” wrote The Guardian in its review of the French violinist’s recent Virgin Classics CD of Mozart concertos, describing the disc as “a fine achievement”, while the Scottish newspaper The Sunday Herald felt that: “Capuçon's silvery tone and expressive phrasing of the slow movements … beautifully balance his brisk and exhilarating takes on the allegros and prestos….Don’t miss this one.” The BBC Music website pointed out that “Capuçon's style, perhaps because of his regular chamber work, is natural, understated and perceptive; the sound of a musician happily relaxed in his skin and not feeling the need to prove any virtuosic credentials. His performance here is lithe, graceful and refined, capturing vivacious humour with luminous upper-stringed sparkle, and colouring the slower movements with warm, musical poetry.”

Capuçon’s Virgin Classics discography is substantial, but much of the focus has been on chamber music – only two previous discs have featured him in solo concertos. Now he takes on two highly constrasting works: Beethoven’s sublime concerto, a touchstone of any major violinist’s repertoire, and Korngold’s gorgeous work, written in 1945 for one legendary violinist, Bronislaw Huberman, but premiered in 1947 by another, Jascha Heifetz. Korngold, once known primarily for his spectacular film scores, has in recent years achieved a significant presence in opera houses and concert halls – notably with his early opera Die tote Stadt and with this concerto, which in fact draws on material that the composer originally produced for Hollywood movies, Another Dawn (1937), Juárez (1939), Anthony Adverse (1939) and The Prince and the Pauper (1937).

Conducting the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra is its Music Director, the thrilling young Canadian Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who took up his post in 2008 and who is also Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra – an appointment which led to an award from the Royal Philharmonic Society in May 2009.

Following his Félix award-winning recording of Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 with the Orchestre Métropolitain, Yannick Nézet-Séguin turns to the Austrian master’s Symphony No. 6- this CD marks the fifth Bruckner symphony recorded on the ATMA label by the Orchestre Métropolitain under the direction of NézetSéguin.

Their previous Bruckner symphony recordings (Nos. 4, 7, 8, and 9) have been met with unanimous praise. Yannick Nézet-Séguin is one of the most sought-after young conductors in the world. In September 2012, he became the new Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He is also Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Orchestre Métropolitain of Montreal, a position he has held since March 2000.

He has also held the post of Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra since 2008.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin in concert is something to behold and he has fast become a ‘must-see’ artist live on the international concert platform.

Portraits – The Clarinet Album features concertos by Copland, Spohr and Cimarosa, plus arrangements of short pieces. Andreas Ottensamer is accompanied on the recording by the Rotterdam Philharmonic under Yannick Nézet-Séguin, a rising star in the Deutsche Grammophon firmament.

Portraits – The Clarinet Album takes us from the early-Romantic intensity of Spohr to the jazz inflections of Copland, and from the operatic gestures of Cimarosa to the poised serenity of Debussy. It includes a prelude by Gershwin, Debussy’s evocative La Fille aux cheveux de lin, and a Berceuse by Amy Beach, the first great female American composer.

In 2009 Ottensamer interrupted his liberal arts studies at Harvard University to become a scholar of the Orchestra Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker. He is now principal clarinettist of the orchestra and is also a part time model.