Curtis Symphony Orchestra in New York

Yannick Nézet-Séguin is music and artistic director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, music director of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain, and in September 2018, began his tenure as music director of the Metropolitan Opera. Widely recognized for his musicianship, dedication, and charisma, Mr. Nézet-Séguin has established himself as a musical leader of the highest caliber and one of the most exciting talents of his generation. His highly collaborative style, deeply rooted musical curiosity, boundless enthusiasm, and fresh approach to programming have been heralded by audiences and critics alike.

Mr. Nézet-Séguin has appeared with most of the world’s leading orchestras. He enjoys close collaborations with the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He is honorary conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic after serving as its music director from 2008 to 2018; and was principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic from 2008 to 2014. He has appeared repeatedly at the BBC Proms and many European and North American festivals, among them Edinburgh, Grafenegg, Lanaudière, Lucerne, Mostly Mozart, Salzburg, Saratoga, and Vail. He has conducted annually at the Metropolitan Opera since 2009, and has led productions at Teatro alla Scala in Milan; the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London; Netherlands Opera; and the Vienna State Opera. He records for Deutsche Grammophon.

A native of Montreal, Mr. Nézet-Séguin studied piano, conducting, composition, and chamber music at the Conservatoire de music du Québec. He continued his studies with renowned conductor Carlo Maria Giulini, and also studied choral conducting with Joseph Flummerfelt at Westminster Choir College. His honors include Musical America’s Artist of the Year (2016), the Royal Philharmonic Society Award, Canada’s National Arts Centre Award, and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres du Québec. He holds honorary doctorates from multiple institutions, including the University of Québec in Montreal, Westminster Choir College, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Cur­tis Institute of Music, where he has served on the faculty as mentor conductor since 2013.

Benoit Gauthier is a Canadian conductor acclaimed for the intensity and depth of his interpretations. In 2024, he received the prestigious Jean-Marie-Beaudet Prize in Conducting from the Canada Council for the Arts.

He recently made his New York debut at David Geffen Hall (Lincoln Center), where Phindie wrote: “Gauthier clearly had a sense of the weight of the material, and had the requisite authority to guide the Curtis orchestra into carrying that weight” (2024). He has also conducted the National Arts Centre Orchestra (2025), the Quebec Symphony Orchestra (2024), and the Laval Symphony Orchestra (2023 and 2025), and is scheduled to make upcoming debuts with the Windsor Symphony, the Thunder Bay Symphony, and Orchestre de l’Agora.

A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where he served as a Conducting Fellow, Gauthier refined his craft under world-renowned mentors including Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Ford Mylius Lallerstedt, Jim Ross, Robert Spano, Michael Stern, Noah Bendix-Balgley, and Yuja Wang. His exceptional artistry and communicative presence—recognized by both colleagues and faculty—led to his appointment to the Conducting Faculty at Curtis in a newly created position designed specifically for him.

He previously studied flute with Jacinthe Forand and conducting with Gilles Auger at the Conservatoire de musique de Québec, and took part in masterclasses with Alexander Shelley, Marin Alsop, and Bramwell Tovey. From 2021 to 2024, he was a member of the inaugural Conducting Academy of the Orchestre Métropolitain, under the mentorship of Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

In recent seasons, Gauthier has conducted the Orchestre Métropolitain, the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, and the Berlin Opera Academy Orchestra, and has served as assistant to conductors JoAnn Falletta, Victorien Vanoosten, Carlos Spierer, and Andreas Ottensamer.

Committed to community engagement, Gauthier founded the Orchestre symphonique de la Côte-Nord (OSCN) at the age of sixteen, in the only region of Québec that had no professional orchestra at the time. Now a recognized institution, the OSCN performs major symphonic works (The Rite of Spring, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, and a Beethoven cycle from 2023 to 2025) and creates tours adapted to the vast geography of the region (Affluence with the Orchestre du Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean in 2022, Un vent de renouveau in 2023).

In April 2025, he conducted the premiere of Alexis Vollant’s Requiem de guérison—a moving work for soloists, choir, and orchestra dedicated to the memory of Indigenous children who perished in residential schools—performed in collaboration with the OSCN. A chamber-orchestra version of the work will tour Québec’s North Shore in May 2026. Deeply invested in contemporary creation, Gauthier has commissioned and premiered works with the OSCN such as Nordicité (2022) by Martin Caron, dans la tourbière, je m’allongerai sur la mousse (2025) by Charles-Vincent Lemelin, and the Symphonic Suite on Cyrano de Bergerac (2023) by Simon Desbiens.

A versatile musician, he is also a pianist and passionate vocal accompanist, having studied with Miloš Repický, Wolfgang Holzmair, Christine Brewer, François Le Roux, Olivier Godin, and Jennifer Larmore. These experiences led him to assist in opera productions such as George Lewis’s The Comet/Poppea and Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen with the Curtis Opera Theatre (2024), and Puccini’s Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi with the Berlin Opera Academy (2022).

Gauthier received the 2023 Emerging Artist Award from Culture Côte-Nord and has been supported by grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the AIDA Fund, and the Jeunesses Musicales Canada Foundation, as a conductor, flutist, and composer. In 2025, he was also named among CBC’s “30 Classical Musicians Under 30 to Watch.”

benoitgauthierchef.com

Acclaimed for its “otherworldly ensemble and professional level of sophistication” (New York Times), the Curtis Symphony Orchestra offers a dynamic showcase of tomorrow’s exceptional young talent. Each year the 100 extraordinary musicians of the orchestra work with internationally renowned conductors, including Osmo Vänskä, Vladimir Jurowski, Marin Alsop, Simon Rattle, Robert Spano, and Yannick Nézet Séguin, who also mentors the early-career conductors who hold Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellowships. This professional training has enabled Curtis alumni to assume prominent positions in America’s leading orchestras, as well as esteemed orchestral, opera, and chamber ensembles around the world.