Kent Nagano opens the 2018/19 season of the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg and Staatsoper Hamburg with the first, free-entry open air concert in the Rathausmarkt on 25 August. Marking the start of his fourth season as General Music Director, the programme includes pieces by Rossini, Rachmaninov, Brahms, Bernstein and Ravel with performances from soloists Nikolai Lugansky, Elbenita Kajtazi and Oleksiy Palchykov.

Operatic highlights of the 2018/19 season include the premiere of Schumann’s Faustszenen with Christian Gerharher, Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen and the German premiere of George Benjamin’s new opera, Lessons in Love and Violence, directed by Katie Mitchell and coproduced with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.