Canadian conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin was BOTD in 1975. Born in Montréal to a middle-class family, he began studying piano aged five, and later studied piano and conducting at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec and Princeton University. He began his professional conducting career in 1994, working with the Opéra Montréal, the Orchestra Métropolitain, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Royal Opera House. He made his conducting debut with the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 2009, making a series of popular guest appearances. In 2016, he was named as the successor to James Levine as company music director, taking up the role in 2018 after Levine’s dismissal for sexual misconduct. As director of the Metropolitan, he has sought to expand the company’s repertoire, improve racial diversity and make opera more accessible to young people. In 2022, he staged a charity concert for Ukraine war relief efforts. He has made over 50 classical recordings, specialising in Mozart, Mahler and Bruckner. He was the musical advisor for the 2023 Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro, coaching actor Bradley Cooper to recreate Bernstein’s dynamic conducting style. He lives in Montréal and Philadelphia with his partner the violinist Pierre Tourville, and maintains an active and frequently shirtless Instagram profile.