A conductor so magnetic, the camera started rolling and never stopped.
At 41 years old, the Quebecois conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin has established himself as one of the most gifted maestros of his generation, with numerous prestigious posts with some of the world’s greatest orchestras already under his belt, including the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (music director), London Philharmonic Orchestra (principal guest conductor), and the Orchestre métropolitain de Montréal. One week before Nézet-Séguin's official nomination as music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008, filmmaker Christiaan van Schermbeek met the maestro for the first time. The once-in-a-lifetime event inspired Schermbeek to begin this documentary project, giving us a fascinating glimpse into the life of a truly extraordinary individual.
Direction
Van Schermbeek's patient, fly-on-the-wall intimacy.
Sound
Orchestral moments you feel in your chest.
Production
Fourteen years of rare access, zero sensationalism.
Director
Christiaan van Schermbeek
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The project began as a single week of filming in 2008 and ballooned into a decade-plus obsession, with van Schermbeek essentially becoming Nézet-Séguin's unofficial chronicler.
Nézet-Séguin's rise mirrors a broader shift: young, charismatic conductors from outside the traditional European maestro pipeline reshaping classical music's stuffy image.
US
