Yannick Nézet-Séguin extends Philadelpia Orchestra term — and gains a new title

The Philadelphia Orchestra and its musical leader have agreed to a contract extension keeping the conductor at the helm of the ensemble at least through the 2029-30 season.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin was already in the middle of a deal lasting through 2025-26, but when he and the orchestra began discussing future artistic plans, it became clear that the longer time frame made sense, said Matías Tarnopolsky, president and CEO of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center Inc.

With the extension comes a loftier title: music and artistic director, the latter being an addition. The news was announced at Sunday’s orchestra matinee at Verizon Hall.

The change in title is a recognition of not just the conductor’s performances on stage, “but beyond the stage and the role an orchestra can have as a cultural institution in our community,” Tarnopolsky said.

The new contract does not stipulate an increase in the number of weeks the conductor spends with the orchestra each season, Tarnopolsky said, nor does it give Nézet-Séguin any new power or authority in the orchestra’s governance.

“There’s no organizational change. The title change is a recognition of both what they [the conductor and musicians] have achieved together and what they aspire to achieve together.”

Nézet-Séguin, 47, took over as music director in the 2012-13 season at a perilous time for the orchestra. The organization had just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and, after the unusually short tenure of music director Christoph Eschenbach, had been operating under the direction of interim chief Charles Dutoit.

With his cheerful, energetic demeanor, Nézet-Séguin has built a friendlier, more accessible public face for the orchestra. He maintains a colorful social media presence, sports a turtle tattoo on his right shoulder, and has been dubbed classical music’s “Mighty Mouse” by opera star Joyce DiDonato.

Tarnopolsky declined to discuss Nézet-Séguin’s compensation, but an orchestra tax return lists the conductor’s Philadelphia pay in 2019 at $1.6 million.

That puts him at fifth place among U.S. music directors and well below the top earner, Riccardo Muti at the Chicago Symphony, with $3.4 million, according to a report compiled by arts consultant Drew McManus.

Nézet-Séguin declined to speak about the contract extension, an orchestra spokesperson said.

Announcement of the enhanced title and term comes at a time when the Philadelphia Orchestra is looking to build back attendance lost during the pandemic, and to project stability while preparing to unveil a comprehensive fund-raising campaign not yet announced.

“Long-term extraordinary artistic leadership is wonderful for the organization,” Tarnopolsky said, and the extension shows the community “that we are deeply committed to this partnership between Yannick and the orchestra and that they can back a winning team from a fund-raising perspective.”

Modern music directors may have less autonomy than their predecessors, but they are still counted on as the primary personification of an orchestra. They also retain enormous influence over programming, the appointment of new orchestra members and artistic projects, and are expected to actively court donors and project a certain level of involvement in the community.

During his time, Nézet-Séguin has advocated for more underrepresented performers and composers on stage. The orchestra was not the first to champion pioneering Black composer Florence Price, but last year a recording of her works won a first-ever Grammy award for the orchestra in the “best orchestra performance” category and a first Grammy win for Nézet-Séguin.

The orchestra under his leadership has hastened its move toward more accessible and diversified programming: special concerts, live orchestra-to-screen movie scores and commissioning of new works. Nézet-Séguin has developed a partnership between the orchestra and Metropolitan Opera (where he is also artistic chief), and has made a specialty of choral works.

Future plans in Philadelphia include “long-term, major artistic projects, more collaborations and partnerships with musical artists and non-musical artists, ambitious touring plans both within the U.S. and internationally, further digital adventures and a deepening of our community and education programs,” Tarnopolsky said.

The Montreal-born conductor and pianist is also mid-contract as chief of the Metropolitan Opera in a deal through the summer of 2025. But planning with him is already stretching through the 2028-29 season, a Met spokesperson said. He is also “lifelong” artistic director and principal conductor of the Orchestre Métropolitain in Montreal.

Despite the busy schedule elsewhere, Nézet-Séguin has maintained a solid presence in Philadelphia. The extension comes with a reinforcement of that point: “Philly Loves Yannick Week” — a series of promotional events that includes gifting the first 1,000 subscribers to the orchestra’s 2023–24 season a limited-edition bobblehead of Nézet-Séguin.

Even early on, orchestra leaders said they were thinking of the conductor’s Philadelphia tenure in historic terms alongside those of predecessors Eugene Ormandy and Leopold Stokowski.

In fact, Sunday’s announcement casts the extension of Nézet-Séguin’s contract as bringing his tenure “into proximity” with those of Ormandy and Stokowski.

They may be jumping the gun a bit. The extension would bring Nézet-Séguin to 18 years on the orchestra’s podium. The title of “music director” is a modern convention, but Stokowski was the orchestra’s clear chief from 1912 to 1936, or 24 years.

Nézet-Séguin has considerably longer to wait if he hopes to match or beat Ormandy. The Hungarian-born conductor was the orchestra’s leader from 1938 to 1980 — 42 years.