Kent Nagano has established an international reputation as a gifted interpreter of both the operatic and symphonic repertoire. In September 2006, he became General Music Director of the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich as well as Music Director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, with whom he celebrates the Orchestra’s 75th anniversary in 2008/09.

The 2008/09 Bayerische Staatsoper season will see Kent Nagano conduct new productions of Alban Berg’s “Wozzeck” and Richard Wagner’s “Lohengrin” (at the 2009 Munich Opera Festival). Having previously conducted “Salome” and “Ariadne auf Naxos,” he also leads the Bayerische Staatsoper this season in Richard Strauss’s “Elektra.”

Nagano’s activities extend to the Bayerische Staatsoper’s youth and education programs, specifically the newly established Opera Studio, as well as the Orchestra Academy and the ATTACA youth orchestra, which offer social integration programs for children and young adults. In the recording arena, April 2008 marked the DVD release by unitel classica/medici arts of Unsuk Chin’s Opera “Alice in Wonderland”. The production, which opened the 2007 Munich Opera Festival, was named “World Premiere of the Year 2007” by “Opernwelt”, the most important opera magazine in the German-speaking world. At the end of 2008 Sony BMG releases the first orchestral CD collaboration between the Bayerische Staatsoper and Nagano, a recording of the original version of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4.

With the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Kent Nagano conducts four world premieres in 2008/09, all commissioned by the Orchestra: a concerto for radio host and orchestra by Simon Leclerc; a work for orchestra and Inuit throat singing by Juno-award-winning composer Alexina Louie, featuring Inuit singers Evie Mark and Taqralik Partridge; “Escenas de viento” by the Spanish Olivier Messiaen International Composition Prize-winner Ramon Humet; and a cello concerto by Denys Bouliane. To celebrate the centennary of Olivier Messiaen’s birth in December 2008, Nagano conducts the Canadian premiere of his opera “Saint François d’Assise.”

In April 2008, Nagano and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal released their first joint recording on Analekta/Sony BMG. The double album, entitled “Beethoven: Ideals of the French Revolution” is devoted entirely to the music of Beethoven and includes the Fifth Symphony and “The General”. The latter composition, premiered in 2007, is based on an original idea of Maestro Nagano. Scored for orchestra, soprano, chorus and narrator, it brings together excerpts from works by Beethoven interspersed with readings of an original text by author, critic and musicologist Paul Griffiths, who pays tribute to the Canadian humanist Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire and recounts the events that took place in Rwanda in 1994.

The Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and its Music Director Kent Nagano joined the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, its intendant, Prof. Bruno Cagli, and their Opera studio under the patronage of famed soprano Renata Scotto in presenting the 2008 bel canto Festival in August in Knowlton, Canada and in September in Rome. As part of the Festival, Nagano leads the Orchestra in a concert version of Bellini’s opera “Norma”.

Born in Berkeley, California, Kent Nagano maintains close connections with his home state and has been Music Director of the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra since 1978. At the end of the 2008/09 season he will conclude his tenure there and remain the orchestra’s Conductor Laureate. In the 2007/08 season he became Founding Music Director of the new Berkeley Academy Ensemble. Nagano’s early professional years were spent in Boston, working in the opera house and as assistant conductor to Seiji Ozawa at the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He played a key role in the world premiere of Messiaen’s opera “Saint François d’Assise” at the request of the composer. Nagano’s success in America led to European appointments: Music Director of the Opéra National de Lyon (1988-1998), Music Director of the Hallé Orchestra (1991-2000) and Associate Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra (1990-1998). World premieres from these years included Bernstein’s “A White House Cantata” and operas by Peter Eötvös (“Three Sisters”), John Adams (“The Death of Klinghoffer” and “El Niño”) and Kaija Saariaho’s “L’amour de loin” at the Salzburg Festival.

A very important period in Nagano’s career was his time as Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin from 2000 to 2006. He performed Schönberg’s “Moses und Aron” with the orchestra (in collaboration with Los Angeles Opera), and took them to the Salzburg Festival to perform both Zemlinsky’s “Der König Kandaules” and Schreker’s “Die Gezeichneten” as well as to the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden with “Parsifal” (2004) and “Lohengrin” (2006) in a production by Nikolaus Lehnhoff. “Parsifal”, “Die Gezeichneten” and “Lohengrin” were released on DVD. Recordings with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin for Harmonia Mundi include repertoire as diverse as Bernstein’s “Mass”, Bruckner’s Third and Sixth Symphonies, Beethoven’s “Christus am Ölberge”, Wolf Lieder, Mahler’s Eighth Symphony and Schönberg’s “Die Jakobsleiter” and “Friede auf Erden” as well as Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 and Schönberg’s “Variationen für Orchester op. 31”. In June 2006, at the end of his tenure with the orchestra, Kent Nagano was given the title Honorary Conductor by members of the orchestra, only the second recipient of this honour in their 60-year history.

Kent Nagano became the first Music Director of Los Angeles Opera in 2003, having held the position of Principal Conductor for the previous two years. Productions there ranged from a series of Mozart operas (“Idomeneo”, “Don Giovanni” and “Le nozze di Figaro”) to Strauss’s “Der Rosenkavalier” and “Die Frau ohne Schatten”, Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” and “Tosca” and Wagner’s “Lohengrin” and “Parsifal”. His work in other opera houses in recent seasons has included Shostakovich’s “The Nose” (Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin), Rimsky Korsakov’s “The Golden Cockerel” (Châtelet, Paris) and Hindemith’s “Cardillac” (Opéra National de Paris). In the 2008/09 season he conducts Massenet’s “Werther” at the Opéra National de Paris.

As a much sought-after guest conductor Kent Nagano has worked with most of the world’s finest orchestras including the Vienna, Berlin and New York Philharmonic Orchestras, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, D.C.), the Dresdner Staatskapelle and the Russian National Orchestra. He made recordings for Erato and Teldec, among them “Billy Budd” with Thomas Hampson, Messiaen’s “Saint François d’Assise” at the Salzburger Festspiele and Messiaen’s “Turangalila Symphony” with the Berliner Philharmoniker. The recording of Busoni’s “Dr. Faust” with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Opéra National de Lyon won the Grammy award in 2000 for “Best Opera recording”. For Deutsche Grammophon he recorded Peter Eötvös’ “Drei Schwestern” and Bernstein’s “White House Cantata”. His recording of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf with Mikhail Gorbachev, Bill Clinton and Sophia Loren won the Grammy award in 2004 for Best Musical Album for Children.