Kent Nagano conducts the Karajan Academy

His feeling for subtle colours and impressive build-ups of tension have made conductor Kent Nagano a sought-after guest the world over. He has described honesty and a sense of responsibility as the key requirements for a successful orchestra conductor: “Musicians, artists and also the audience are extremely sensitive. They notice immediately when someone is not genuine.” Kent Nagano has been general music director in Hamburg and chief conductor of the State Opera and the Philharmonic State Orchestra since the 2015/16 season. He is also honorary conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO), the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and Concerto Köln. He attracted attention with the latter ensemble in 2021, when he presented a historically informed performance of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. Kent Nagano grew up in Morro Bay, California. Olivier Messiaen had a considerable influence on Nagano’s artistic career when he appointed the young conductor assistant to Seiji Ozawa for the world premiere of his opera Saint François d’Assise in 1984: the beginning of an international career. Nagano, who subsequent to his positions in Lyon and with the DSO in Berlin was general music director at the Bavarian State Opera until 2013, also appears as a guest conductor with leading orchestras, festivals and opera houses throughout the world. He has published several books, including Erwarten Sie Wunder!, published in English under the title Classical music – Expect the Unexpected, a passionate appeal for the relevance of classical music in today’s world.