Biographies
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Music Director
Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin is now confirmed to lead The Philadelphia Orchestra through the 2025-26 season, an extraordinary and significant long-term commitment. Additionally, he becomes the third music director in the history of the Metropolitan Opera, beginning with the 2021-22 season, and from 2017-18 is music director designate. This consolidates Nézet-Séguin’s professional activity around two of the world’s pre-eminent artistic organizations, concentrating and honing his musical future.
Stéphane Denève
Principal Guest Conductor
Stéphane Denève is currently in his fourth season as principal guest conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra, having recently extended his contract through the 2019-20 season. He spends multiple weeks each year with the ensemble, conducting subscription, Family, tour, and summer concerts. His 2017-18 subscription season appearances include four weeks of concerts, with a special focus on the music of Guillaume Connesson; two Family concerts, featuring works by John Williams and Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf; and the Orchestra’s annual New Year’s Eve concert.
Kensho Watanabe
Assistant Conductor
Kensho Watanabe has been assistant conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra since the 2016-17 season and was the inaugural conducting fellow at the Curtis Institute of Music from 2013 to 2015, under the mentorship of Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
David Kim
Violinist David Kim was named concertmaster of The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1999. Born in Carbondale, IL, in 1963, he started playing the violin at the age of three, began studies with the famed pedagogue Dorothy DeLay at the age of eight, and later received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School.
The Philadelphia Orchestra
The Philadelphia Orchestra is one of the preeminent orchestras in the world, renowned for its distinctive sound, desired for its keen ability to capture the hearts and imaginations of audiences, and admired for a legacy of imagination and innovation on and off the concert stage. The Orchestra is inspiring the future and transforming its rich tradition of achievement, sustaining the highest level of artistic quality, but also challenging—and exceeding—that level, by creating powerful musical experiences for audiences at home and around the world.
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