Yannick Nézet-Séguin remakes the Metropolitan Opera

Yannick Nézet-Séguin is remaking the Metropolitan Opera from the bottom up.

When the 48-year-old conductor leans forward to extend his arms and emphasize vibrato or stretches high for a fortissimo during an orchestra concert, the red soles of his patent leather Christian Louboutins become visible. He nearly leaves the ground, a visual contrast to the final years of predecessor James Levine, who conducted while seated from 2001 on and from a motorized wheelchair during his final five seasons because of Parkinson's disease.

"I still feel that we are at the beginning of our journey together," Nézet-Séguin said during a rehearsal break last week. "I can appreciate maybe the growth in our understanding of music, common understanding and the trust, so it feels much more like - I hate to say Yannick's orchestra, because it's not what it's about - I'm there to just curate."

Finishing his fifth season as music director, he takes the Met on its first tour since 2011 and the first solely of the orchestra since 2002, giving concerts from through July 2 in Paris, London and Baden-Baden, Germany.

Nezet-Séguin has led eight new productions and five revivals as music director, among 23 stagings he's conducted since his 2009 debut.

Music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 2012-13 and of Montreal's Orchestre Métropolitain since 2000, Nézet-Séguin has teamed with Met general manager Peter Gelb to turn the 140-year-old Met to more contemporary music in an attempt to engage a wider audience. For years, the Met had been synonymous with Levine, its chief force as music or artistic director from 1976 to 2016, known for bushy hair and emphasis on Verdi, Wagner and Mozart.

"With the exception of the Vienna Philharmonic, great orchestras...