Kent Nagano |

Kent nagano

Kent Nagano is an outstanding American conductor. Since September 2006 he has been heading the orchestra of the Bavarian State Opera (Bavarian State Orchestra). His activities in the Munich theater began with the premiere productions of the mono-opera Das Gehege by the contemporary German composer Wolfgang Rihm and the opera Salome by Richard Strauss. Subsequently, Kent Nagano conducted such masterpieces of the world opera theater as Mozart’s Idomeneo, Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Lohengrin, Parsifal and Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, Elektra and Ariadne on Naxos” by R. Strauss, “Wozzeck” by Berg, “Unrest in Tahiti” by Bernstein, “Billy Budd” by Britten. Under his direction, the world premieres of the contemporary operas Alice in Wonderland by the South Korean author Unsuk Chin and Love, Only Love by the Greek composer Minas Borboudakis were performed at the Munich Opera Festival and in concerts of the Bavarian State Orchestra.

In the 2010-2011 season, the conductor will present at the Bavarian Opera the one-act performances The Child and the Magic by Ravel and The Dwarf (after O. Wilde) by Zemlinsky, as well as the opera Saint Francis of Assisi by Messiaen.

Tours of the Bavarian State Orchestra conducted by Kent Nagano took place in many European cities: Milan, Linz, Bolzano, Regensburg, Nuremberg, Budapest, Baden-Baden, etc. In September 2010, the orchestra will have a large European tour.

Under the leadership of maestro Nagano, the team participates in internship and educational programs. Examples of this are the Opera Studio, the Orchestra Academy, and the ATTACCA Youth Orchestra.

Kent Nagano continues to replenish the band’s rich discography. His latest works include video recordings of Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland (2008) and Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina (2009). In February 2009, SONY Classical released an audio CD with Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony.

In addition to his main activities at the Bavarian State Opera, Kent Nagano has been Artistic Director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (Canada) since 2006.

Source: Moscow Philharmonic website