On Friday, the Orchestre Métropolitain opened its 15th season with “the still young” Yannick Nézet-Séguin as conductor. Season-opening speeches are unbearable and video tributes oxymoronic, but a desire for the music usually restrains my more unacceptably misanthropic urges at these things. And in this case, the atmosphere of celebration was heightened by news that Culture Minister Hélène David had rejected the proposed closure of the regional branches of the Conservatoire de musique et d’art dramatique du Québec.
Nézet-Séguin is perhaps the best-known graduate.