Since September 2015, Kent Nagano has held the post of General Music Director of Hamburg State Opera and Chief Conductor of Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, and this season marks the end of an extraordinary decade.

During this time, Nagano and Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg highlights have included opera productions such as Boris Godunov, Salome, performances of Sciarrino’s Venere e Adone, as well as Britten’s Peter Grimes, Les Troyens, Lulu, Lessons in Love and Violence and the world premiere of Stilles Meer and Castelucci’s St. Matthew’s Passion. Furthermore, open-air concerts at the Rathausmarkt and the world premiere of Jörg Widmann​’s work Arche at the inauguration of the Elbphilharmonie, a venue to which Nagano was integral in the development. Orchestral tours with the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg have taken Kent Nagano to Japan, Spain and South America.

In his final season as General Music Director in Hamburg, Nagano brought four new productions to the Staatsoper: Carl Orff​’s Trionfi, Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, Unsuk Chin’s The Dark Side of the Moon, and Rodolphe Bruneau-Boulmier’s The Illusions of William Mallory. Symphony concerts with the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester in the Elbphilharmonie, included two commissions: the world premiere of Alex Nante’s symphony Anahata, commissioned by Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg and a performance of Jörg Widmann’s Cantata Tempore Belli which was also performed at the National Opera of Kyiv in June 2025. The season culminates in a performance at the Festival Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, followed by a tour of Asia with the orchestra. In 2025/26, Kent Nagano takes up the baton as Principal Artistic Partner at Filharmonica Arturo Toscanini, before commencing his role as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director with Orquestra y Coro Nacionales de España in September 2026.