Kent Nagano conducts

 

Kent Nagano has established a reputation as a gifted interpreter of both the operatic and symphonic repertoire. He is currently Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Music Director of Los Angeles Opera (positions he holds until 2006). In September 2006, Nagano begins his tenure as the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Music Director and will also take over from Zubin Mehta as Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. He also maintains his long association with the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra in California, where he has held the position of Music Director since 1978.

Much of Kent Nagano's inspiration stemmed from the time he spent with his mentor, Olivier Messiaen. Subsequently, Nagano rose to prominence in 1984 when Messiaen selected him to assist Seiji Ozawa in preparing the world premiere of his opera Saint François d'Assise. He went on to become Music Director of the Opéra National de Lyon from 1988-1998, with whom he commissioned and premiered Peter Eötvös' opera Three Sisters, Music Director of the Hallé Orchestra from 1991-2000 and Associate Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. He has given world premieres of Adams' The Death of Klinghoffer and El Niño, Bernstein's A White House Cantata and at the 2000 Salzburg Festival Kaija Saariaho's opera L'Amour de loin to great critical acclaim.

Nagano's diverse and imaginative programmes for Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin have won him praise from audience and critics alike and his recent Harmonia Mundi recordings with the orchestra of Beethoven's Christus am Ölberge, Schönberg's Die Jakobsleiter and Friede auf Erden, Bernstein's Mass, Bruckner's Third and Sixth Symphony, Mahler's Eighth Symphony and Wolf's Mörike-Lieder reflect this.

Over recent seasons, Nagano has conducted many operatic productions including Shostakovich's The Nose and Turandot at the Deutsche Staatsoper in Berlin, Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden Cockeral at the Châtelet in Paris, Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Zemlinsky's König Kandaules as well as Schreker's Die Gezeichneten at the Salzburg Festival, Dialogue des Carmelites at the Opera National de Paris, Billy Budd at the Bayerische Staatsoper and Don Giovanni, Madama Butterfly, Der Rosenkavalier and Die Frau Ohne Schatten in Los Angeles. Operatic appearances this season include Hindemith's Cardillac at Opéra National de Paris and Parsifal, Tosca and The Marriage of Figaro in Los Angeles. Furthermore, the residencies of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester over the past five years in Baden-Baden include productions by Nikolaus Lehnhoff of Parsifal (2004) and Lohengrin (June 2006).

A regular guest conductor with many of the world's leading orchestras, Nagano's engagements have included concerts with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Vienna, Berlin and New York Philharmonic Orchestras, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra Washington, Dresden Staatskapelle and the Russian National Orchestra. In the season 2005/06, Nagano appeared with the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia as well as toured with his Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin in Germany, Poland, Romania and France.

Kent Nagano's many recordings for Erato and Teldec include Billy Budd with Thomas Hampson, Messiaen's Saint Francois d'Assise from the Salzburg Festival, Mahler Symphony No. 3 with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Messiaen's Turangalîla Symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic. His recording of Busoni's Doktor Faust with the Opéra National de Lyon won the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording. For Deutsche Grammophon he has recorded Peter Eötvös's Trois Soeurs and Bernstein's White House Cantata. His recording of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf and Jean-Pascal Beintus' Wolf Tracks with the Russian National Orchestra for Pentatone was the winner of a 2004 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children. It features Sophia Loren narrating Peter and the Wolf, and a new piece by Jean-Pascal Beintus, Wolf Tracks, narrated by Bill Clinton and introductory remarks provided by Mikhail Gorbachev.

April 2006

Source: Deutsche Welle