Kent Nagano
Given the impact of his career upon music, it seems incredible that Kent Nagano almost became a lawyer. Nagano has proven himself a powerhouse in the operatic and orchestral realms, championing the music of the 20th and 21st centuries. He is best known for his long association with the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, the Opéra National de Lyon, and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, as well as a critically acclaimed recording career.
Nagano was born in Berkeley, California, on November 22, 1951. Despite thorough musical training beginning at age six and obvious talent, Nagano simultaneously worked toward degrees at the University of California, Santa Cruz in sociology and music in 1974 before moving on to San Francisco State University in 1976 to study law. There, composition courses with Grosvenor Cooper and Roger Nixon turned him toward music, and an encounter with Laszlo Varga -- former first cellist of the New York Philharmonic under Walter, Mitropoulos, and Bernstein -- prompted him toward conducting. Though he no longer composes, Nagano has said, "While I seemed to be quite able from the point of view of craftsmanship, I was not very good at the creative aspects! However, having the skills of composition only increases the admiration that one can have for the exceptionally talented who have composed great works." His apprenticeship was spent under Sarah Caldwell at the Opera Company of Boston from 1977 to 1979, where he eventually became an assistant conductor.
In 1978, Nagano was named music director of the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, a post he held until 2009. It was with the Berkeley Symphony in 1982 where he led the first American performance of Pfitzner's opera Palestrina. As assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, he stood in, without rehearsal, to conduct Mahler's Symphony No. 9 in 1984. An adventurous spirit and a major interpretive grasp were clearly at work. These traits were confirmed when Olivier Messiaen tapped Nagano to assist Seiji Ozawa in preparing the world premiere of his sprawling, luminous opera Saint François d'Assise in 1984, a work Nagano later recorded. His years as musical director of the Opéra National de Lyon (1988 to 1998) were marked by a number of distinguished premieres (including Peter Eötvös' opera Three Sisters, which he commissioned) and recordings, including Debussy's abandoned opera Rodrigue et Chimène, John Adams' Death of Klinghoffer, Busoni's comic opera double bill of Arlecchino and Turandot, and his testament, the unfinished Doktor Faust (with alternate completions by Philipp Jarnach and Antony Beaumont). As music director of the Hallé Orchestra from 1991 until 2000, he recorded John Adams' El Niño and the four-act version of Britten's Billy Budd.
Nagano was named the principal conductor and music director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin in 2000. The following year, he took up the role of principal conductor of the Los Angeles Opera and transitioned to become the company's first-ever music director in 2003. In 2006, Nagano stepped down from his positions with the Los Angeles Opera and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester to take up the post of music director for both the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and the Bavarian State Opera. He still maintains a relationship with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, whose members named him Honorary Conductor. He exited his Bavarian State Opera at the end of his contract in 2013, taking up the general music director and chief conductor posts for the Hamburg State Opera in 2015, with a contract extension through 2025. Nagano left the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal in 2020, which named him conductor emeritus in 2021.
Nagano is married to pianist Mari Kodama, and together they issued a complete recording of Beethoven's works for piano and orchestra.
© Adrian Corleonis & Keith Finke /TiVo
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Beethoven: Ideals of the French Revolution
Classical - Released by RCA Red Seal on 7 Nov 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Varèse : Orchestral Works
Classical - Released by Warner Classics International on 1 Nov 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel, Poulenc, Ibert & Martin: Songs with Orchestra
Kent Nagano, José Van Dam, Orchestre de l'Opéra de Lyon
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 25 Nov 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
R. Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Aug 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten : Billy Budd
Opera - Released by Warner Classics International on 1 Aug 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Symphonie No. 4 & Schoenberg: Variations, Op. 31
Berlin Deutsches Symphony Orchestra, Kent Nagano
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 15 Aug 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Michael Torke: Color Music
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, David Zinman, London Sinfonietta, Kent Nagano
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 7 for 3 Pianos in F Major, K. 242 "Lodron": III. Rondo. Tempo di minuetto
Mari Kodama, Momo Kodama, Karin Kei Nagano, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Kent Nagano
Concertos - Released by PENTATONE on 26 Apr 2024
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
PROKOFIEV: Pedro y el lobo (Peter and the Wolf) / BEINTUS: Wolf Tracks
Antonio Banderas, Sophia Loren, Russian National Orchestra, Kent Nagano
Classical - Released by PentaTone on 1 Jan 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Boldemann / Gefors / Hillborg
Anne Sofie von Otter, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Kent Nagano
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rihm : Das Gehege - Beintus : Le Petit Prince (Suite)
Rayanne Dupuis, Eva-Christina Schonweiss, Berlin Deutsches Symphony Orchestra, Kirsten Ecke, Kent Nagano
Symphonic Music - Released by CapriccioNR on 7 Sep 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 in E-Flat Major, WAB 104 "Romantic" (Original Version, Ed. L. Nowak) (Urfassung)
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 9 Mar 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler : Symphonie n°8 (Kent Nagano)
Symphonic Music - Released by harmonia mundi on 7 Jun 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The John Adams Album
Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Kent Nagano
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 13 Sep 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: The Firebird & Symphonies of Wind Instruments
London Symphony Orchestra, Kent Nagano
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 8 May 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Christus am Ölberge
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 15 Jan 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bernstein: A Quiet Place
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jun 2018
Qobuzissime16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
La Damnation de Faust, Op. 24, H. 111, Pt. 1: Marche hongroise
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 8 Mar 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schoenberg: Die Jakobsleiter (Kent Nagano)
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 15 Aug 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Audi Jugendchorakademie, Munich Opera Horns
Antonia Schreiber, Audi Jugendchorakademie, Munich Opera Horns, Kent Nagano
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released by Farao Classics on 9 Jun 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev: L'amour des trois oranges
Kent Nagano, Orchestre de l'Opéra de Lyon, Catherine Dubosc, Gabriel Bacquier
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1989
Gramophone Record of the Year16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo