like, super, super, super, super smooth. hey, should you be drinking that? it's decaf. the gat network. only fr ♪ every year the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints collects $ 7 billion in contributions from its 17 million members. the church has its own investment firm, but there are questions now about how millions of those dollars have been used by the famously private church. >> what about, you know, the idea that secrecy builds mistrust. >> uh-huh. we don't feel it's being secret. we feel it's being confidential. >> what's the difference? >> uh --

>> >> what's it like to be in toye w of moby >l.ight, "60 minu dick legend, but melville's knowledge was fiction. sperm whales are especially maternal. generations live together while taking care of their calfs and they have the biggest brain in the animal kingdom and they sleep like this. >> you'd be forgiven for double-checking your ticket to make sure you weren't at madison square garden. this is new york's metropolitan opera. and in this corner, the maestro yannick nezet seguin only the third in the met's 140-year history. he has musicians in the pit and voek sallists on stage, seemingly all at once and the baton consecrates every note. ♪ ♪ >> i'm leslie stahl.

>> i'm bill whitaker. >> i'm anderson cooper. >> i'm sharon alfonsi, i'm cecilia vega. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories and more on "60 minutes." who are positive for acetylcholine receptor antibodies, it may feel like the world is moving without you. but the picture is changing, with vyvgart. in a clinical trial, participants achieved improved daily abilities with vyvgart added to their current treatment. and vyvgart helped clinical trial participants achieve reduced muscle weakness. vyvgart may increase the risk of infection. in a clinical study, the most common infections were urinary tract and respiratory tract infections. tell your doctor if you have a history of infections or if you have symptoms of an infection. vyvgart can cause allergic reactions. the most common side effects

include respiratory tract infection, headache, and urinary tract infection. picture your life in motion with vyvgart. signed using headache, and urinary tract infection. a fragment of an antibody. ask your neurologist if vyvgart could be right for you. (seth) hi, cecily. i just switched my whole family to verizon. (cecily)ur neurologist oh, it's america's most reliable 5g network. (seth) and it's only $35 a line. (vo) save big during our spring savings event, and get the disney bundle with disney+, hulu, and espn+ included. all for just $35 a line. verizon

mysteries. one of the closest guarded secrets of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints has been its wealth. tonight, you will hear for the first time about its remarkable size from a former manager at the church's investment firm. david nielsen says that during his nine years managing money at the church firm the value of its investments ballooned past their 100 billion. that would make it the largest treasure held by any religious fund in america, but instead of spending that money to do good, david nielsen alleges it was used in ways that bent the law and broke his faith. >> i thought i was going to work for a charity. i thought that's what my skills were going to do was help build

a charity and do good with things. and the funds were never used for that. it was really a clandestine hedge fund. >> a clandestine hedge fund. >> yeah. >> how so? >> those funds were used the way they were appropriated to be used. >> so how were they being used? >> once the money went in it didn't go out. >> david nielsen was the senior portfolio manager for the investment arm of the church called enzyme peak advisors. in 2009 nielsen who says he was devout mormon was recruited away from a lucrative job on wall street to work for the firm a block in church headquarters in salt lake city. >> you know this, wall street, you spend your skills working to make really rich people a little bit more rich, but there is something different about the prospect of putting your skills to work for something that you think is really going to build the kingdom, that's really going

to make a difference. >> but nielsen says he grew troubled by what he saw at enzyne peak. he said the firm used false records and statements to masquerade as a charity, stockpiling money and misleading church members. ♪ ♪ every year the church collects an estimated $7 billion in contributions from its 17 million members. the church expects members to contribute about 10% of their income, a practice known as tithing. >> explain how the tithi is supposed to be belled? >> tiething is used to operate some of the church's programs. >> whatever is left over, about a billion dollars a year is put into a reserve fund at enzyn peak and invest it because enzyn peak is registered as a non-profit it all grows tax-free. david nielsen says since it was

created in 1997 the reserve fund has swelled beyond $100 billion, twice the size of harvard's endowment or the bill and melinda gates foundation. >> you can solve big problems with $100 billion. >> is that what bothers you about all of this? >> i thought we were going to change the world and we just grew the bank account. >> did any of your former boss essex plain how the money was going to be used one day? >> the answer was always the second coming and it's a bit tongue in cheek, but deep down a lot of the employees did believe it. >> church leaders called it a rainy day fund, but in 2013, nielsen said one of his bosses shared this document at a meeting that showed $1.4 billion from a fund went to a mall being built on land owned by the church and $600 million was used to prop up a for-profit

church-owned insurance company called beneficial life. >> like, i'm not an expert on charities, but i have been around the block long enough to know that charities can't bail out for-profit businesses and maintain their charitable status. >> and so when they gave this money to bail out a for-profit venture, what was your reaction? >> what are we doing? how is this okay? >> david nielsen says he hit his breaking point in 2018 after a website called mormon leaks linked church members to companies that existed only on paper. those shale companies held billions of dollars in stocks and bonds. what nobody knew outside church leadership was those assets were actually ensign peak. nielsen says the firm called an emergency meeting. >> what was the explanation? >> these entities were to hide the assets from the members.

the chief investment officer said that if we were to change and start reporting these securities in our own name it would bring undue attention to the firm, and that that attention would be potentially damaging, and after the meeting i went and confronted him. what do you mean potentially damaging? he said, dave, we'll lose your tax-exempt status. i knew in that moment that i was in the wrong place. >> he resigned in 2019 and filed a 74-page whistle-blower complaint with the internal revenue service, alleging that ensign peak violated its tax-exempt status by moving money to for-profit businesses. >> it's not just incorrect. it's flat-out wrong. >> christopher wadell says david

nielsen says david didn't have a full picture of ensign peak. wadell is one of three church bishops who oversees finances. >> as a christian church we believe that some day jesus christ will return, but that's not why we have those resources. it's for the continuing operation and for the future. >> david nielsen alleged that ensign peak violated the tax-exempt status by directing money to church businesses. how would you characterize how that money was used? >> the church actually owned beneficial life, and unfortunately the church had the resources to bail out beneficial life during the financial crisis, 2008 and 2009. >> and the mall? >> the mall is not a bailout. the mall is a investment. >> and you are receiving returns on that investment? oh, absolutely. it was an investment. >> wadell says it has paid back most of the bailout money, but the church would not disclose the details of the deal or the mall investment. unlike other non-profit, religious organizations don't have to fully disclose all

financial information to the irs. >> what is the value right now of ensign pack's assets? >> that's something i can't share with you right now. i know there have been reports on a proximates and that kind of thing. >> it's been estimated at $150 billion. does that sound correct? >> that's an estimate that some have made. >> are we in the ballpark or no? >> we have significant resources. >> give us a sense of what percentage is going out the door of the money under management. >> to be honest with you, we never looked at it as a percentage. we looked at it based on needs to make sure we're comfortable with how many years' worth i have in case we have a financial crisis to make sure that we can continue church operations. we just want to make sure that that is sufficient. >> david nielsen says he did not intend for his complaint to the irs to become public, but in 2019 his brother shared it with

"the washington post," nielsen e of his friends and it wasn't until 2021, two years later, that david nielsen heard from investigators. not from the irs, but the securities and exchange commission which launched its own probe into ensign peak after that website story linked the church to shell companies. >> what information did you give to the sec? >> everything. i helped them see the big picture. >> to protect market fairness and transparency, any firm with more than $100 million in securities must file accurate reports on its holdings with the sec, but in february, the sec announced the church of latter-day saints and ensign peak failed to do that. sec investigators found the church went to great lengths to hide $32 billion in securities over nearly 20 years. it created 13 shell companies

that were assigned companies that would go directly to voice mails in case investigators checked in. >> here they were never sold a stock in their life and signing pages for a portfolio that didn't exist. >> the sec fined the church and ensign peak a total of $5 million. bishop christopher wadell told us it was the church's lawyers who advised us to create the shell companies. >> what about the idea that secrecy builds mistrust? >> well, we don't feel it's being secret. we feel it's being confidential. >> what's the difference? >> the difference is -- i guess it's a point of view. it's confidential. in order to maintain the focus what our purpose is and what the mission of the church is rather than the church has x amount of money. >> but don't you agree this would be a non-issue if there

were more transparency? >> no because then everyone would be telling us what they wanted us to do with the money. >> last year the church says it spent over a billion dollars on humanitarian aid including food production. >> in any given month you may have an average of nine transfers going from ensign peak back to the church to fund all church operations, all humanitarian work, education work and all of the work of the church they fund. >> money is going in and out of the cash accounts all of the time, but ensign peak's funds were never used for any charitable purpose. to my knowledge, the whole time i was there, so there's a bit of a distinction here that's important. >> explain that to me. >> well, it's the difference between your checking account and maybe your retirement account. they're used for different purposes and you don't get to pretend that one is affecting the other. >> the fundamental claim to me is that ensign peak brings money in and it's the hotel

california. it never comes out. >> bill hackney worked in the office of chief counsel of the irs and teaches tax law. he concedes it's complex and the case falls into a gray area. the church would say we give millions of dollars out every year in humanitarian work. how much is enough by the standards of the irs? >> we know within private foundations it's 5% of assets. there's no clarity when it comes to public charities, and certainly not with churches, but i would expect to see something like 2%, 3% of assets being spent out to justify that status. >> but how do you know if they're spending 2% or 3% of assets if we don't know what the assets are? >> we have to rely on them behaving well. >> they said they bailed out this insurance company. is that a problem? >> it is a problem, in my opinion, if they have moved

money from the non-profit to a for-profit. >> so how likely do you think it would be that the irs will ever investigate this? >> slim. the political risk is so great that it comes with real danger. at the same time there's a real risk to the rule of law if the irs doesn't come in and enforce those rules. >> david nielsen says honesty is a tenet of the faith. he wants ensign peak advisors to pay the taxes he says it owes on the $100 billion fortune built from tithing. if the irs decides nielsen is right he could be rewarded with up to 30% of what's collected. the irs does not comment on whistle-blower complaints. >> why are you speaking now? >> it's time, sharyn. we gave the irs and the sec all

the professional courtesy. this is just too important to fall through the cracks. >> it's possible that you were dead wrong? >> no. i know what i saw. i know what i know. ♪ ♪ meet the outdoorsies. wayfair's outdoor deal experts. the gardener... goes to wayfair for gardening basics that... aren't so basic. the entertainer...e t ese

' get hat i the loger... neit on the wayfair app. get outdoorsy for way less at wayfair. ♪ wayfair, you've got just what i need ♪ i have moderate to severe ulcerative colitis. so i'm taking zeposia, a once-daily pill. because i won't let uc stop me...from being me. zeposia can help people with uc achieve and maintain remission. and has been shown to reduce symptoms in as early as 2 weeks. zeposia is the first and only s1p receptor modulator approved for uc. don't take zeposia if you had a heart attack, chest pain, stroke or mini-stroke, heart failure in the last 6 months, irregular or abnormal heartbeat, if you have untreated sleep apnea, or take maois. zeposia may cause serious side effects including infections that can be life threatening and cause death, slow heart rate, liver or breathing problems, increased blood pressure, macular edema, swelling and narrowing of the brain's blood vessels,

and increased risk of pml-- a rare brain infection that usually leads to death or severe disability. tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to be. don't let uc stop you from doing you. if you're living with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis, ask your doctor about once-daily zeposia.

in december, nearly every member country of the united nations pledged to protect at least 30% of the world's land and sea by 2030 to reverse the damage done by humans and protect vulnerable species. one of the animals at risk is also one of the largest in the ocean and among the least understood. sperm whales are not the predators of moby dick legend. they have brains six times larger than ours and spend most of their lives in the darkest depths of the ocean.

it is difficult to describe their size without comparing them to a school bus. last month we traveled with national geographic explorer henrique sala to the island of dommenica where he's preserving protection for the hundreds of sperm whales living there, but first we had to find them. >> are you guys ready? >> go! go! go! go, guys, go! look in the water! >> most of henrique sala's dives don't start like a fire drill though he has spent thousands of hours under water as a diver. we came face to face with a pod of whales, but these are not the whales we traveled all this way to see. they are pigmy killer whales known to threaten sperm whales and because they are here the sperm whales are not. these killer whales can grow up to 8 1/2 feet in size. sala told us seeing them up close almost never happens. >> you've never been able to get

into the water with one of these. they're that elusive? >> very elusive. why is that? why do you not see them? they are very smart. they hunt like wolves. they hunt in groups. they are not interested in interacting with humans. they are like prey. >> those rain-forest covered volcanic peaks drop thousands of feet down to the sea floor below which is why hundreds of sperm whales live in these waters. they are one of the deepest diving mammals on the planet. they are mostly females here. families made up of grand morgues, mothers and daughters who stay together for life nursing and raising their young. when henrique sala was here in december his national geographic team filmed this. it is a pod of sleeping female sperm whales, vertical giants up to 40 feet long suspended near the surface. their nap lasts only about 15 minutes until the whales are

ready to dive again in what can be an hour-long journey for squid thousands of feet down. even to researchers, why they sleep like this is one of the great mysteries. >> what's it like to be in the water with them? >> magical. we have in our minds the legend of moby dick and this nasty, aggressive animals, but you jump in the water and they are so docile and gentle they have never attacked humans and they are so curious especially the babies. so it's one of the most amazing wild wildlife encounters that one can have on the planet. >> your official is explorer in residence. >> not bad. >> it's an oxymoron. you're not supposed to be sitting in one place. >> what does it mean to be an explorer in 2023. very different from an explorer of the 19th century was. i can dedicate my life and work with an amazing team of scientists, experts, filmmaker,

storytellers to work with local communities and governments and indigenous peoples to assess the health of ocean places and help to protect them. >> he grew up north of barcelona, spain, near the coast. his first dive was in a marine reserve. it drove everything that they have done afterwards. if we give the ocean space, it can heal itself. >> sala moved to california where he was a professor of marine ecology for seven years at the scripps institution of oceanography. >> you have had a long career in academia at a top university and you tried that and decided not for me. you walked away. >> i walked away because my job was to study the impacts of humans in the ocean and the impacts of fishing and global warming and one day i realized that all i was doing was writing the obituary of the ocean. >> writing the obituary of the ocean. >> i felt like the doctor was going to tell you how you were going to do with excruciating

video and no cure. >> have you found the cure? >> it is one solution that is proven and a success story everywhere in the world, marine-protected areas where machines are banned and marine life can come back. >> he founded the pristine seas project in 2008. it combined sea exploration, scientific research and public policy and has worked with 17 countries to turn these large swaths of the ocean into marine-protected areas. in dommenica scientists estimate the sperm whale population declines by 3% each year. sala said a preserve would protection them from their greatest threats, not those pig me killer whales we saw or whaling which has been banned for decades, but plastic trash, ocean noise pollution and ship strikes. >> if they continue with the status quo here, what happens? >> if nothing is done, the population will probably

continue declining. so reversing those trends hopefully will allow the sperm whale population to rebound, and the more whales there are the more benefits domenica and the local authorities will obtain. >> hurricane maria devastated those communities in 2017. today the island is continuing to rebuild and prepare for the future. francine baron heads the agency in charge of that effort. >> what was it about hurricane maria that made the leaders of this country say we have to do something? we really have to act. >> we suffered an equivalent of 226% loss of gdp. so we could see the trend and we realize that we needed to become much more resilient. >> when henrique sala came to you with this idea of creating a sanctuary for these whales what was his pitch to you? >> we see whale watching as an important part of our tourism product and it's something that needs to be protected, and the

idea of creating greater protection for the whales is something that s very open to and we were very pleased with the suggestion that henrique made to create a recognized sanctuary for the whales. >> henrique sala compares it to a model that has worked in rwanda where protecting mountain gorillas helped bring tourism dollars to the local economy. >> are you going to find us some whales? >> sure. >> captain kurt benoit was born and raised in domenica and has been in the whale tourism business for more than two decades. we set out on his 38-foot lady rose from a small fishing village on the west coast. our government permit to swim with the whales was good for stsix days. captain benoit picks up the distinct clicking of sperm whales as far as 11 miles away.

>> we got whales in the south. every three miles we checked to see if we were getting closer. >> come to papa. that is -- tell me about this really high-tech device you've got here. >> you have an underwater microphone which picks up sound from 360. so what i did is i take a salad bowl with neoprene and the microphone is hidden, so as it goes ut it actually brings us straight to wherever you hear the sound. >> this is a salad bowl from your house? >> yes. >> what do the whales sound like? it's like a horses galloping on a hard surface. if there are several of them that means there are a lot of whales there. >> let's keep on going, man. i'm going to find these guys. >> on the second day, a water spout. >> see it? it's right here. see him? you can see his top. look at him. oh, my gosh. >> swimmers in the water! >> males here live with their families until their teen years and then they roam mostly alone

thousands of miles away. sperm whales have been found as far away as norway, returning here only to mate. >> our cameraman got lucky enough or unlucky enough to have the whale poop on him. >> so whales go down. they hunt squid. they come back to the surface. they breathe, they rest and they poop, and that poop is full of nutrients which fertilizes the shallow waters. >> so a good thing, i guess. >> it's a good thing. >> come on, people. we're looking for spokes. >> but our luck didn't last. >> nothing is there. >> we spent the next day searching for sperm whales and the next. >> nothing at all. >> and the next. not a single click. >> you guys, it's pretty quiet. >> and then in the last hour of the last day of our trip -- >> lots of animals in the area, guys. >> ooh!

>>y' cominck.>>l give them some. >> so that means the whales are above them. we're right >> it's a plus! >> go! go! and it's coming to you! cecilia! >> it's coming to you. >> we jumped in the water and a young female swam right to us. she came within feet. at first, her size was terrifying. she made a sound like a creaking door hinge. it's one of the ways whales communicate and socialize. with eyes on the side of her head she stared right at us. she had squid in her mouth left over from lunch thousands of feet below. she stayed and rolled aroun and her jaw was wide open. she was using echo location

bouncing those clicks off of us trying to figure out what we were. you could hear the clicking. you could hear her -- once you were really close to her you could hear that. >> i could feel it in my bones. >> you grabbed my hand, you could tell i was nervous. >> i was excited, too. >> you were? >> yeah. huge. you have to respect them. you have to respect them. there is a sense of awe that comes with being in there. she was looking right at us. >> and she left us a souvenir. >> a piece of squid. >> sperm whales -- >> shane is another national geographic explorer. he started the domenica sperm whale project and over the last 18 years he's identified more than 35 families. >> did you recognize the whale that we saw? >> the animal you met belongs to the ec-2 clan. the other clan of whales that we've known exists in the caribbean, but we haven't seen all that much and those groups

identify themselves by making specific patterns oclicall it's a part of who they are, where their grandmother grew up and so it really ties the animals and the place together. >> what does the coda of the ec-2 sound like? >> they make the 5r3 coda and it sounds like this. five slow clicks. and she came up to you and made this five r3 coda saying i am from the ec-2 clan. are you? >> she was rolling around and she kept coming back, but is that me assigning human characteristics to a whale or is she actually a playful animal? >> these are the animals that are holding the largest brain to ever exist maybe in the universe and they use that for complicated thinking and behavior. absolutely this was an animal that was playful, and that curiosity of the animal actively coming towards you just shows

that this is the animal that's investigating something in it's world. >> back on the dock -- >> there is a treasure here. >> henrique sala says it's that world he's trying to protect. >> is being in the water with sperm whales is a magical experience. this is something spiritual there. this is more than science and data. a sense of awe and wonder that is unavoidable when you are in the water with these gentle giants. [ clicking ] to have someone trust you enough to tell you their seeket rets to invite you into their home is something that will never be lost on me. >> cecilia vega on becoming a "60 minutes" correspondent at "60 minutes" correspondent at "60 minutes overtime.com. age it♪ ♪ it's a little pill with a big story to tell. ♪

♪ aeach staaart♪ y toeee ♪ ♪ it's a little pill with a big story to tell. ♪ ♪ i'm lowering my a1c. ♪ jardiance works 24/7 in your body to flush out some sugar! and for adults with type 2 diabetes and known heart disease, jardiance can lower the risk of cardiovascular death, too. jardiance may cause serious side effects including ketoacidosis that may be fatal, dehydration, that can lead to sudden worsening of kidney function, and genital yeast or urinary tract infections. a rare, life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this infection, ketoacidosis, or an allergic reaction, and don't take it if you're on dialysis. taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. ♪ jardiance is really swell, ♪ ♪ the little pill with a big story to tell. ♪ (fisher investments) it's easy to think that all money managers are pretty much the same, ♪ jardiance is really swell, ♪ but at fisher investments we're clearly different. (other money manager) different how? you sell high commission investment products, right?

(fisher investments) nope. fisher avoids them. (other money manager) well, you must earn commissions on trades. (fisher investments) never at fisher investments. (other money manager) ok, then you probably sneak in some hidden and layered fees. (fisher investments) no. we structure our fees so we do better when clients do better. that might be why most of our clients come from other money managers. at fisher investments, we're clearly different. salonpas lidocaine flex. a super thin, flexible patch with maximum otc strength lidocaine that contours to the body to relieve pain right where it hurts. and did we mention, it really, really sticks? salonpas, it's good medicine. i'm here for the dunkin' run, campaign, commercial. it's a great deal, get a large coffee or donut for a buck. i mean. -i do know you, departed. -the departed. the dep...were you in the departed? um. matt damon. nope, yep, i love him. he's great. very. time for a dunkin' run. get a $1 donut with any medium or larger coffee.

♪ ♪ yannick nezet seguin is a conductor operating at triple tempo. once the director of three major orchestras, in philadelphia, in his hometown of montreal and at the metropolitan opera in new york which has pinned on him the hope for rebounding from financial crisis and the bold revamping of its artistic mission. not that you'll catch nezet seguin sweating it. at 48 he's obliterating the stereotype of the strict, unapproachable maestro, keeping

his musicians in time and his hair wlebleached blond and his smile welded to the his face, nezet seguin is reimagining the role of the modern orchestra and its place in the modern city. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> you'd be forgiven if are double-checking your ticket to make sure you weren't at madison square garden. this is new york's metropolitan opera. and in this corner, the maestro yannick nezet seguin, only the third music director in the met's 140-year history. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> he's conducting a jazz-infused opera about a real-life boxing champion of the 1960s and '70s. all this as a radical key change from the standard met lineup of puccini and verdi and ♪ ♪

>> nezet seguin's eyes reach musicians in the pit and vocalists on stage seemingly all at once and the baton consecrates every note. >> this is the cathartic moment where oh, my god, this is so amazing. this is so impressive and this is so intense and this is so emotional and this cathartic experience, we feel transformed as a different person before and after listening to these pieces. >> there seems to be something sacred about your making music. am i overstating that? >> no. no, you're not. i try to never take myself too sersly, but music has to be season seriously. >> a pianist by training who has conducted the great philharmonics of europe he brings his sensiblities to bear up and down the eastern seaboard. in philadelphia, he is the current custodian of what's been a world-renowned orchestra for more than a century. we visited in february as the

city celebrated the contract extension through 2030 of a maestro known to all by his first name. >> yannick! >> that morning. ♪ ♪ >> yannick and his musicians made the pilgrimage up the famed rocky's steps clad in eagles clear and he sees it as an industry of cohesion in the community. >> hi, everyone. hi! >> in the afternoon, nezet seguin stopped by philly's premiere performing arts high school to guest conduct the ♪ ♪ >> i think if we were to agree to bite even more every ♪ ♪ ♪ >> that's it! that's what i'm talking about. >> 450 miles due north back home in montreal -- ♪ ♪ >> they speak his language in more ways than one. he has a life time contract with the orcest metropolitan.

nezet seguin has led these musicians for more than 20 years and that's his husband pierre on the viola. the depth produces hypnotic sound. listen to this, a rehearsal of the sebelius' hit ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> some weeks yannick leads performances in all three cities. just last saturday he conducted a matinee in new york and the evening program in philly. then again, what is a conductor if not someone able to synchronize? >> i can't deny that it's a very demanding schedule and even the word schedule should i ever retire i want to ban that word from my life. >> do you have a favorite child among the three orchestras you conduct?

>> you can't ask me this. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> yet one child in particular, and isn't this always the case, demands extra attention and tlc. >> can we have more importance in the third team, pom, pom, pom, pop! >> at the met, the country's largest performing arts institution we watched him wrangle 250 musics and singers for a production, a stalwart opera that gave us the bridal chorus. ♪ ♪ >> and necessary nezet seguin's interpretations do well by the masters. >> what i want to do is respect what wagner wrote in the score. it's poetic and magical and what's individual is me being completely at the service of the composer. >> yannick took over the podium here in 2018, after his predecessor was fired for allegations of sexual misconduct. facing weak ticket sales and perpetually strapped for cash, the met has had a hard time

rebounding from covid and has dipped into its endowment to cover 10% of the operating budget. >> they tried courting a younger, more diverse crowd here before, but nezet seguin is doing it prestisimo speeding up the tempo of change and new composers and contemporary operas and hollywood hits would bring in a wider audience and shore up the bottom line. early results suggest he's right. ♪ ♪ >> a recent premiere of the opera fire shut up in my bones, based on a memoir by charles blow and composed by jazz legend terence blanchard sold out and the classic rigoleto last season. what's more. half the seats were filled by first time met goers. >> and such a success and i ner fel compeedr peo

sa welcome, to come here. and that is my mission. >> first timers were 50%. you saw that as both a triumph, but also sounds like an indictment. >> mostly it's a tremendous encouragement to continue in that vain. >> the met will put on 17 new and recent works over the next five seasons. this at a place that once went near decades without staging a new opera. >> this spring brought champion, another terence blanchard composition based on the complicated life of emil griffith, a bisexual prizefighter. >> what can't you write an opera about? >> nothing. >> how do you thread that needle between experiments and bringing in new audiences and also not upsetting the traditionalists. >> the truth is i'm not necessarily concerned about not upsetting traditionalists. i think people who love our art form are still going to love it because we're still going to play some puccini and verdi.

to me it's never about not up too bad. they just don't com to d as p you'llear him get. beyond his musician ship his hallmark might be his light touch. take this rehearsal for champion and the first time the rhythm and singers played the piece together and also that rare collaboration between a conductor and a living composer. >> he gets it. >> terence blanchard, a seven-time grammy winner is the first black composer in the met's history. >> he gets the story. he gets the whole notion of bringing these different styles of music together. one of the rehearsals with the orchestra, he said, listen, don't follow me. listen to the drums. most conductors don't do that. >> i'm there for you. okay. cool. >> we saw first hand yannick's responsiveness when soprano lat a

la tania moore asked him to slow things down. ♪ ♪ >> can you go slower? i just really want to get everything out. >> right from the bass. >> is there a worry, though, that your authority might be undercut by all these good vibes? >> i think it's the old concept of authority which is because i say so and because i can fire you i'm going to tell you what to do. that's not working anymore, and i will go even further. even the masters of the past, tuscanini, fantastic musician and i respect a lot of this, but you can hear when some recordings with tuscanini especially with singers and you can hear the fear in their voice and to me that's not expressive. >> you can discern that? >> oh, yeah. i'm sure you could. they're trembling because they fear becausal ready to open your mouth on the stage is already nerve-racking.

if you have a conductor who is waiting for you to fail it's going to be even more nerve-racking. the music doesn't win. ♪ ♪ >> the music wins when everybody feels free to express who they are. >> yannick found that freedom for himself as early as grade school. here he is leading an imaginary orchestra in front of classmates. he studied at the conservatory in mobt montreal and a church choir in his teens and trained his ear in less formal ways, too. i would go to a record store and buy cds and discover repertoire and repertoire, and every symphony by brookner and mueller and i want them to hear every version and by every version of every symphony and i am not shy to say that it's shaped a lot of who i am as a musician, because eventually i became a collection of, like 12,000 cds.

>> last winter we visited his parents at yannick's childhood home. the kind of folks who keep every clipping. >> yannick told us when he was a boy he collected thousands and thousands and maybe 10,000 cds. >> more than that. >> he warrsn't exaggerating. >> not at all. >> he made the shelves. >> it was his mom who managed yannick's schedule throughout his 30s as he worked the circuit, vienna rotterdam and conducting orchestras. he made his met debut in 2009, persistence paying off, and if today he's living the dream he's also conscious to live his life. he and pierre go on the road together. we met them at a spot in old montreal where they had celebrated their wedding. they make a point of going out after every performance. >> friends, family, members of the orchestra, colleagues, some people together to eat well and

drin a little. ♪ ♪ >> of all of the musical moments in the country's history, we were surprised when he highlighted this one. the time pierre and celine dion serenaded him on a popular quebec talk show, a kind of musical "this is your life". >> of course, it was one of the most moving moments of my life. not anybody can say that they've sung a duet with celine dion. bocelli and barbara streisand and pierre. >> wow. >> maybe it's a hard turn from celine to the met for most conductors and not so for yannick nezet seguin. yes, he takes music seriously, but resists being too precious about it. >> you have to trust the acoustics and he's too busy smudging boundaries that have long kept some audiences away from classical music and opera. ♪ ♪

♪ >> i would love that when i finish my time on earth that no one ever says again, oh, classical music is not for me. it's for the educated and it's for the rich and for the white, whatever it is. i want everyone to feel oh, yeah. i could like it some of it and i like mozart and blanche ard and you could go there because there would be something for you. >> what would puch iny and wagner think of this? they would join in the applause. they, after all, were once musical boundary pushers, too. o? they would join in the applause. they, after all, were once musical boundary pushers, too. t? they would join in the applause. they, after all, were once musical boundary pushers, too.

-that's it? -yeah. progressive's homequote explorer makes it easy to compare home insurance options. man...i told my wife i'd be in here for hours. what do we do now? we live... ♪♪ save time and money with progressive's homequote explorer. what you do afterwards, is up to you. oh, whoa, i was actually just thinking i would take a nap. pretty tired. okay. i was stuck. unresolved depression symptoms were in my way. i needed more from my antidepressant. vraylar helped give it a lift. adding vraylar to an antidepressant... ...is clinically proven to help relieve overall depression symptoms... ...better than an antidepressant alone. and in vraylar clinical studies,

most saw no substantial impact on weight. elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. report unusual changes in behavior or suicidal thoughts. antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. report fever, stiff muscles, or confusion, as these may be life-threatening, or uncontrolled muscle movements, which may be permanent. high blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death, weight gain, and high cholesterol may occur. movement dysfunction and restlessness are common side effects. stomach and sleep issues, dizziness, increased appetite, and fatigue are also common. side effects may not appear for several weeks. i didn't have to change my treatment. i just gave it a lift. ask about vraylar and learn how abbvie could help you save. doors take us places. so you bought a place. to new adventures. -oh. mwah. -planned... -and unplanned. -surprise! -they lead to goals. -for you, mama. and connect us to family. i didn't get the part. your dedicated fidelity advisor can help you open those doors. but i did get waiter number 2. because they know you.

they can help you create a comprehensive plan for full ial pi and personalized money management with the right balance of risk and reward.

illinois is in the middle. and what do you find in the middle? the meeting point of humanity and history. it's the middle of the architectural revolution. welcome to the middle of everything.

>> now the last minute of "60 minutes." >> tonight's story about the sperm whales of domenica recalls another maritime adventure. in the fall of 2019 we reported on the sometimes uncomfortable comeback of great white sharks along the atlantic coast. bill whitaker went to cape cod with the massachusetts department of marine fisheries and in nova scotia with i research organization osearch to see the giant predators up close as they are tagged and equipped with satellite tracking transmitters. transmitters attached, this

12-foot shark now named sydney was back in the water and its tracker showed heading south for the carolinas and florida. although sydney's signal has been lost, osearch reports 87 other sharks it tagged are beginning to swim north again for the summer. i'm sharyn alfonsi. we'll be back next week with another edition of "60 minutes." (vo) while you may not be a pediatric surgeon volunteering your topiary talents at a children's hospital — your life is just as unique. your raymond james financial advisor gets to know you, your passions, and the way you give back. so you can live your life. that's life well planned. psoriasis really messes with you. try. hope. fail. no one should suffer like that. i started cosentyx®.

five years clear. real people with psoriasis look and feel better with cosentyx. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting get checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infection, some serious and a lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. tell your doctor if your crohn's disease symptoms develop or worsen. serious allergic reaction may occur. best move i've ever made. ask your dermatologist about cosentyx®.

previously on the equalizer... (grunting) dante: while in pursuit of a suspect, he and his group got the drop on me and they relieved of my shield and weapon. stay away from this lo-lo guy. lo-lo, stop! (shouting) reminds me of when my dad was killed. how i waited, helpless, for somebody, anybody... vi: i know you think that what happened to your father that night was your fault. but it wasn't. ♪ ♪ (vi laughing) robyn: not yet. (robyn huffs) damn, that was... mm-hmm. boy, that was good. i'm full, but i can't stop eating it. it's amazing how a meal can take you back in time. i just can't believe it took me this long to get back here. and you remember when daddy tried to

add on some hot sauce? (laughing)