Kent Nagano made his debut with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, then still known as the Radio-Symphonie-Orchester, in 1991. He conducted works by George Benjamin, Paul-Heinz Dittrich und John Adams in a concert forming part of the Contemporary Music series of the SFB radio station.
Kent Nagano, formerly music director of the Opéra National de Lyon (1989-1998) and of the Hallé Orchestra (1989-1998), has established a reputation as an eminent interpreter of both the operatic and symphonic repertoire. He is in constant demand as a guest conductor by many of the world's leading orchestras. Career highlights include the first productions of John Adams’ The Death of Klinghoffer in Brussels (world premiere), Lyon and Vienna, his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New Yor, where he conducted Poulenc’s Les dialogues des Carmélites, Britten’s Billy Budd with the Hallé Orchestra, and the premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s White House Cantata with the London Symphony Orchestra. He has also built up a long-standing association with the Symphony Orchestra in Berkeley, where he has held the position of music director since 1978. Placido Domingo appointed him principal conductor of the Los Angeles Opera from July 2001. Kent Nagano will succeed Zubin Mehta in 2006 as music director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.
In the summer of 1998 Kent Nagano roused a sophisticated audience at the Salzburg Festival and the critics to enthusiasm with Messiaen’s opera St. Francois d‘Assise. He returned to Salzburg in 1999 to conduct Peter Mussbach’s production of Ferruccio Busoni’s Doktor Faustus (with the Vienna Philharmonic) and in 2001 to direct the world premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s opera L’Amour de Loin. In mid-2002 he appeared there with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchestra for the first time to perform Zemlinsky’s opera König Kandaules.
His international guest engagements in recent years have included the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Munich Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic. He has been invited to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the NDR Symphony Orchestra and the Dresden Staatskapelle.
Nagano’s many recordings include Canteloube’s Chants d‘Auvergne with Dawn Upshaw, Debussy’s Rodrigue et Chimène, Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann with Roberto Alagna and José van Dam, Puccini’s La Bohème with Kiri Te Kanawa, Berlioz´s La Damnation de Faust with Susan Graham, Thomas Moser and José van Dam as well as Britten’s Billy Budd with Thomas Hampson. In February 2001 Kent Nagano won a Grammy award for his recording of Busoni’s Doktor Faustus, voted Best Opera Recording of the year 2000.
To mark the beginning of his association with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester in Berlin he conducted Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 at the Berlin Festival in September 1999. Recorded for Teldec Classics International and released in September 2000, it also won an international gramophone award. In October 1999 he undertook his first concert tour with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester. The 18-day tour of Japan was voted Best International Tour of Japan 1999 by the Japanese guild of music critics. In December 2000 Kent Nagano and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester scored a resounding success at the "Théâtre du Châtelet“ in Paris for the world premiere of El Niño by John Adams. A CD and a DVD recording of this event was released in September 2001 and won the „Diapason d’Or“ and the „Gramophone Award 2002“. A performance of Arnold Schoenberg’s Moses und Aron in Los Angeles earned him and „his“ orchestra much acclaim in December 2001. Not least, the high esteem in which they are held by audiences and critics in Berlin is evidence of their successful partnership. Kent Nagano has extended his contract with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester until 2006.
