Kent Nagano announced Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España, starting September 2026 (December 2024)

December 19, 2024

As announced yesterday evening by the Instituto Nacional de las Artes Escénicas y la Música (INAEM) of the Ministry of Culture in Madrid, Kent Nagano will be the next Chief conductor and Artistic Director (Director Titular y Artístico) of the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España (OCNE) in Madrid starting in September 2026, for an initial period of 5 years.

Kent Nagano comments: “The richness of Spain, reflected in its language, culture, history and the profound influence of its arts over time, represents a far-reaching cultural resonance that continues to inspire audiences around the world. I am honored to have received the OCNE’s invitation to collaborate with them in building the next chapter of this important musical tradition, connecting today’s generation to Spain’s vibrant cultural relevance, nurtured by its renowned literature, poetry, visual arts and dance. Together with the OCNE as a cultural ambassador we will look to the future with the purpose of bringing this great tradition into the 21st century.”

Previously Kent Nagano has guest conducted the Orquesta Nacional de España and the Coro Nacional de España on three occasions: in June 2018, with Hans Werner Henze’s Die Bassariden; in June 2021, with works by Gabriel Fauré and Olivier Messiaen; and in April 2024, when he conducted Haydn’s The Creation.

ocne.mcu.es

kentnagano.com

The Wagner Cycles: Making-Of Die Walküre (December 2024)

A Project of the Dresdner Musikfestspiele
under the artistic directorship of Jan Vogler and Kent Nagano

In “The Wagner Cycles”, the individual works of Richard Wagner’s tetralogy will be performed in concert in a special collaboration between the Dresdner Festspielorchester and Concerto Köln. Der Ring des Nibelungen will be re-examined, rehearsed and performed – in the artistic context of the time when it was first produced, on the basis of the most recent research on Wagner and historical performance practice, flanked by a comprehensive framework programme.

Last year, the project included the celebrated tour of Die Walküre with musicians from the Dresdner Festspielorchester and Concerto Köln as well as renowned soloists at the Prague State Opera, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, the Dresden Kulturpalast, Cologne Philharmonie and the Lucerne Festival.

The making-of video of Die Walküre on YouTube gives a deeper insight into the project:

Kent Nagano in Munich and Passau (October 2024)

After the premiere in July, Kent Nagano returns to the Bavarian State Opera in October 2024 for three performances of Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre. On 20, 23 and 26 October, he will conduct the production by director Krzysztof Warlikowski in Munich. Further information from the Bavarian State Opera here. Kent Nagano will also conduct the Verdi Requiem with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the AUDI Jugendchorakademie and soloists at St. Stephan’s Cathedral in Passau on 27 October.

20, 23 and 26 October  Munich, Bavarian State Opera
Ligeti: Le Grand Macabre

27 October Passau, Passau Cathedral
Kent Nagano Conductor
Verdi: Messa da Requiem
Liudmyla Monastyrska Soprano
Elīna Garanča mezzo-soprano
Francesco Meli Tenor
René Pape Bass
Audi Youth Choir Academy
Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio

 

Weitere Informationen auch auf kentnagano.com

Kent Nagano conducts new production by Krzysztof Warlikowski at the Bayerische Staatsoper (June 2024)

Under the musical direction of Kent Nagano, a new production of György Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre will be brought to the stage of the Bayerische Staatsoper in June and July 2024. The premiere of the production by director Krzysztof Warlikowski will be broadcast live on BR-Klassik. Further detailed information can be found on the website of the Bayerische Staatsoper.

28. June             Munich, Bayerische Staatsoper           Premiere
György Ligeti: Le Grand Macabre
Libretto by György Ligeti and Michael Meschke based on the play La balade du Grand Macabre by Michel de Ghelderode.
Krzysztof Warlikowski – Production
further performances: 1, 4, 7 July


Kent Nagano’s latest CD release with the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra on FARAO Classics is the general music director’s first symphonic release with “his” orchestra and presents two chamber music works by Schubert, orchestrated by Mahler and Webern and presented in a new guise, as well as an early chamber music work by Webern. The 2021 live performance was recorded at the Elbphilharmonie and Laeiszhalle.

Further information here.

The Schubert-Mahler-Webern triad contains an important piece of music history which, in the way the works are interwoven with each other, we can experience here like under a magnifying glass. It is part of the history of Romanticism in its late phase, shim-mering in new colors on the threshold of modernity.” — Kent Nagano

Mari Kodama & Kent Nagano – New release on Pentatone: Mozart & Poulenc CD (April 2024)

The pianists Mari Kodama, Momo Kodama, Karin Kei Nagano and conductor Kent Nagano present Double and Triple Piano Concertos by Mozart and Poulenc, together with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande on a new CD recording (Pentatone). Similar to Mozart’s own practice of making music with his family, the Nagano-Kodama family recorded Mozart’s piano concerto No. 7 for 3 pianos and No.10 for 2 pianos as well as Poulenc’s concerto for 2 pianos and orchestra. The CD will be released on Pentatone on April 26, 2024.

Making music with family members is always something very special. The level of intimacy is incomparably higher, the shared understanding often deeper, the tension more exciting and grueling, because it always involves personal relationships that go far beyond professional music-making. Once we actually succeed in letting ourselves be carried away together by the music, magic unfolds, which in turn affects our personal relationships deeply. This project has more than just fulfilled our expectations. A dream has come true.” – Mari Kodama, Momo Kodama, Karin Kei Nagano and Kent Nagano

Mozart & Poulenc | Double & Triple Piano Concertos
Mari Kodama – piano
Momo Kodama – piano
Karin Kei Nagano – piano (in Piano Concerto No. 7 K. 242)
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Federico Kasik – Guest Concertmaster
Kent Nagano – conductor

Kent Nagano receives the Brahms Prize 2024 (March 2024)

The Brahms-Gesellschaft Schleswig-Holstein is awarding this year’s Brahms Prize to the renowned conductor Kent Nagano. The California-born maestro has been celebrated worldwide for decades for his conducting achievements in both the symphonic oeuvre and the opera repertoire. In recent years in particular, as GMD of the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, he has increasingly focussed on Johannes Brahms and opened up new perspectives on the work of the North German composer. […]

The award ceremony for the Brahms Prize, which is endowed with EUR 10,000, will take place on 29 September 2024 at 7.30 pm in St. Bartholomew’s Church in Wesselburen. Kent Nagano will be accompanied by the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, which will perform works by Johannes Brahms and Richard Strauss under his baton and in his honour.

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The 2024/25 season in Hamburg with Kent Nagano

Georges Delnon, Artistic Director of the Hamburg State Opera, and Kent Nagano, Hamburg’s General Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, presented the 2024/25 season and concert season in a press conference on March 11, 2024.

Kent Nagano is focussing on contemporary music in his final season in Hamburg: he will conduct the world premiere of Unsuk Chin’s new opera Die dunkle Seite des Mondes (The Dark Side of the Moon), who is one of the most important composers of our present time and this year’s winner of the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize.
Kent Nagano will also conduct the world premiere of Die Illusionen des William Mallory (The Illusions of William Mallory), an opera by Rodolphe Bruneau-Boulmier about the rise and fall of an underdog, based on a true story (text by Inge Kloepfer).

Other new productions are Carl Orff’s Trionfi and Ariadne auf Naxos by Strauss, completing the great success of the Strauss-trilogy by Kent Nagano and Dmitri Tcherniakov after Elektra and Salome. During the 2024/25 season, the Hamburg State Opera revives numerous important productions of the past years, like Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner or Jaques Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann which Kent Nagano will conduct.

The concert seasons starts with Carl Orff’s Camina Burana at Rathaus Open Air in August under the baton of Kent Nagano. In the Philharmonic Concerts, Kent Nagano conducts György Ligeti’s Lux Aeterna, Anton Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony and the world premiere of the symphony Anahata by Argentinian composer Alex Nante. Nante’s symphony was commissioned by the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra and have its world premiere in the last Philharmonic Concert conducted by Kent Nagano during his tenure as chief conductor. 

All information about the concerts and performances with Kent Nagano in Hamburg can be found here.
You can download the current season brochure here.

Please read more information about the 2024/25 season in the press release.

General Music Director Kent Nagano receives Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (February 2024)

Kent Nagano stands for classical music at the highest level and carries his enthusiasm far into society.
Dr Carsten Brosda, Minister of Culture and Media Hamburg

Kent Nagano has been honoured by the Federal President with the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. Dr Carsten Brosda, Minister Culture and Media, presented him with the award today in the Tower Hall of the Town Hall.

“I feel deeply honoured to receive this high recognition from Germany and, indirectly, from the great culture it represents. If I have been able to contribute in any way to the extensive artistic tradition in this country, it is only because of the privilege of working closely with exceptional ensembles and institutions: such as the Hamburg State Opera and the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, the Bavarian State Opera and the Bavarian State Orchestra, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Dresden Festival Orchestra, Concerto Köln and many other great German cultural institutions and artists.”
Kent Nagano, Conductor and General Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera and Chief Conductor of the Philharmonic State Orchestra

Ehrung BVO Kent Nagano (c)Claudia Höhne, Bundesverdienstorden, Rathaus Hamburg, Turmsaal, 19.02.2024

 

More information can be found here.

Kent Nagano’s Honorary Memory of Maestro Seiji Ozawa (February 2024)

“With Maestro Seiji Ozawa’s passing the world has lost not only an exceptional artist, we have lost one of music’s greatest pioneers and ambassadors of his generation. Personally, I have lost a close mentor, trusted friend and perpetual source of inspiration. His legacy will live on through his tireless investment in the  young generation and the many cultural institutions he built during his lifetime. The music community has been deeply fortunate to have known such a formidable artist and we send a heartfelt note of condolence to the Ozawa family.”

– Kent Nagano, February 2024

Peter Grimes premiere with Kent Nagano in Hamburg (February 2024)

On Sunday, February 11, 2024, General Music Director Kent Nagano will conduct the premiere of Benjamin Britten’s opera Peter Grimes at the Hamburg State Opera.

In February, Kent Nagano will also devote himself to preparations for the premiere of “Die Walküre”, which will take place on March 9 at the Prague State Opera. “Die Walküre” will continue the Dresden Music Festival’s “The Wagner Cycles” project, in which “Die Walküre” will be performed in concert with the Dresden Festival Orchestra and Concerto Köln under the direction of Kent Nagano.

Sunday, February 11, 2024, Hamburg, State Opera                       Premiere
Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra
Benjamin Britten: Peter Grimes
Gregory Kunde (Peter Grimes)
Jennifer Holloway (Ellen Orford)
Katja Pieweck (Auntie)
Iain Paterson (Balstrode)
Kent Nagano (conductor)
Sabine Hartmansshenn (director)

Further performances:
February 14, 18 & 21, 2024

Further information can be found at staatsoper-hamburg.de

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