Kent Nagano

Conductor

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“The whole evening is electrified, the music pulses ceaselessly, the rhythm is sharpened, everything flows …”
(Neue Zürcher Zeitung)

Honorary Conductor: Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg
Conductor Laureate: Deutsche Symphonie Orchester Berlin
Honorary Conductor: Concerto Köln
Chief Conductor and Artistic Director: Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España (from September 2026)
Principal Artistic Partner: Filarmonica Toscanini

Kent Nagano is considered one of today’s outstanding conductors for both operatic and orchestral repertoire. Since the season 2026/27, he is the Chief conductor and Artistic Director of the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España (OCNE) in Madrid and was appointed as the Principal Artistic Partner of Filarmonica Toscanini in the season 2025/26. He has been Honorary Conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin since 2006, Concerto Köln since 2019, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal since 2021 and the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg since 2023 and is as patron of the Herrenchiemsee Festival.

Kent Nagano, together with Jan Vogler, is the artistic director of »The Wagner Cycles«, a Ring project developed between 2023 and 2026 by the Dresden Music Festival with the Dresden Festival Orchestra and Concerto Köln. Every year one of the four parts of Wagner’s »Der Ring des Nibelungen« was staged according to historically informed performance practice. From 2027 on, Kent Nagano will conduct the Dresden Festival Orchestra in several complete performances of »The Ring of the Nibelungen«, including a performance at the Konzerthaus Wien.

From 2015 to 2025 Kent Nagano was General Music Director of the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra and State Opera, where his tenure included major productions such as Boris Godunov, Salome, Peter Grimes, Les Troyens and Lulu. Previously, he was Music Director of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (2006 – 2020), General Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera (2006 – 2013) and Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.

As a much sought-after guest conductor, Kent Nagano regularly works with leading international orchestras worldwide. 2026/27 season highlights include projects with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and the WDR Symphony Orchestra amongst others. In addition, Kent Nagano will conduct the premiere of Jacques Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, as well as the production of John Adams’ Nixon in China at the Teatro alla Scala.

Born in California, Kent Nagano maintains close ties to his home state, serving as Music Director of the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra from 1978 to 2009. His first major international success came in 1984 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, when Olivier Messiaen appointed him assistant to Seiji Ozawa for the premiere of Saint François d’Assise. This success in the United States led to a series of prominent European appointments, including Music Director of the Opéra National de Lyon (1988 – 1998) and of the Hallé Orchestra (1991 – 2000). In 2003, Nagano became the first Music Director of Los Angeles Opera, having previously served as its Principal Conductor for two years.

Kent Nagano has received Grammy Awards for recordings of Busoni’s Doktor Faust, Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, and Saariaho’s L’amour de loin. His extensive discography includes recordings for BIS, Decca, Sony Classical Deutsche Grammophon, Analekta and Harmonia Mundi.

He has also received numerous honors, including the Order of Canada, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the »Ordre des arts et des lettres« of Québec and of France, and the Brahms Prize 2024.

Season 2026/27
Not to be altered or shortened without permission of PR² classic.