Season Announcement 2015/2016 in Hamburg (April 2015)

Kent Nagano, future General Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera and Chief Conductor of the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, Georges Delnon, the future Intendant of the Hamburg State Opera, John Neumeier, Director and Chief Choreographer of the Hamburg Ballet, and Detlef Meierjohann, Managing Director of the Hamburg State Opera presented the 2015/2016 season in a press conference today. In keeping with the meaningful tradition of the three institutions, the new leadership team has set the goal of developing an individual and recognizable profile that spans the bridge between considered cultivation of traditional repertoire and a distinctive passion for new forms.

The Hamburg State Opera will open the season with Berlioz’s opera “Les Troyens”, with Michael Thalheimer giving his directorial debut and Kent Nagano raising his baton for the first time at the opera house. Alongside this production, the revitalized opera stabile will not only host Christoph Marthaler’s “Isoldes Abendbrot”, featuring the mezzosoprano Anne Sofie von Otter, but will also present the world premiere of “Weine night, singe” by Michael Wertmüller, directed by Jette Steckel.

Love and the experience of human agony are the overriding themes of both of the Hamburg Ballet’s premieres in the 2015/2016 season. John Neumeier will choreograph the story of the Italian actress Eleonore Duse and will also bring Messiaen’s symphony “Turangalîla” to the stage, conducted by Kent Nagano. Included in the season’s numerous repertoire productions is “A Cinderella Story” as well as the “Saint Matthew Passion”, set to J.S. Bach’s poignant music.

Hamburg’s new General Music Director Kent Nagano and the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra will start their first season together by paying homage to great composers of Hamburg. The 188th concert season will be characterised by classical composers such as Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Berlioz and Mahler together with works by contemporary artists such as Unsuk Chin, Toshio Hosokawa and Peter Ruzicka. Kent Nagano will conduct seven concert programmes, while guest conductors include Philippe Herreweghe and Lothar Zagrosek.

The season brochures for the three institutions can be viewed online under

www.staatsoper-hamburg.de

www.hamburgballett.de

www.philharmoniker-hamburg.de

Kent Nagano and Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich: Concert live broadcasting (April 2015)

Kent Nagano live in ZDF Morgenmagazin (April 2015)

BBC Interview with Kent Nagano now online available (March 2015)

The BBC interview with Kent Nagano, which was conducted in January 2015 on the occasion of his concert with BBC Symphony Orchestra, is now available for streaming on BBC Radio 3 Music Matters.

Kent Nagano talks about the influences of his musical education, about his associations with composers like Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez and Olivier Messiaen and also about his views on New Music and its importance for the future of classical music in general.

Please click here to listen to the interview.

CD published: Kent Nagano and Audi Youth Choir Academy (March 2015)

Kent Nagano conducts Rihm’s Tutuguri in London (January 2015)

After more than 5 years, Kent Nagano is returning to London on 31 January 2015 to conduct the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Wolfgang Rihm’s “Tutuguri” – a work for large orchestra, percussionists, taped chorus and speaker. The performance at the Barbican in London is the UK premiere of Rihm’s “Poeme danse”. Kent Nagano has conducted this monumental piece before to great acclaim – at the rostrum of the BR Radio Symphony Orchestra Munich in 2012.

The concert is part of the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s “Total immersion: Percussion” – an interactive day featuring masterclasses, performances, talks and workshops at the Barbican, London. Please click here for more information.

Rarities on CD: French trumpet concertos (January 2015)

The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and Paul Merkelo – Principal Trumpet with the orchestra for over 20 years – have recorded rarely played French trumpet concertos that are renowned for being some of the most demanding pieces for this instrument.

The French repertoire draws attention to a period in Europe that saw the liberation of its people at the end of World War II, and a rejuvenation of its soul through their artists, writers, and poets. This freedom of expression is clearly heard in the works of Henri Tomasi (1901-1970), Alfred Desenclos (1912-1971), and André Jolivet (1905-1974). Their interest in the sound of the trumpet and its ability to fit into a jazz idiom, as well as being a highly virtuosic instrument, gave birth to three of the most beautiful trumpet concertos.

Paul Merkelo recorded this repertoire accompanied by his colleagues under the baton of Music Director Kent Nagano at Maison symphonique de Montréal. The CD has just been released by Analekta.

Kent Nagano: Book publication & CD releases (September 2014)

Kent Nagano: „Erwarten Sie Wunder! Expect the unexpected

Kent Nagano’s book „Erwarten Sie Wunder! Expect the unexpected“ will be published on 6 October by the Berlin Verlag. Based on his own biography, Kent Nagano discusses the importance and future of classical music: Classical music is in danger of disappearing from the everyday reality of the general public and becoming an antiquarianism of a social elite. Its loss would not only impoverish society from a cultural perspective, but would deprive it of inspiration, wit, emotional depth and a sense of community. Concerned about a change of values in the western societies, Kent Nagano makes a passionate plea for classical music. The book is being published in German, a publication in English and other languages is anticipated for the near future. Please click here for further information (in German).

CD releases

There will be three new CDs being released in October under the baton of Kent Nagano. Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 2 & 4 “The Poetry of Freedom” will be published by Sony Classical as the last part of a recording of all the Symphonies by Beethoven with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal under Kent Nagano.

A CD with Japanese Children Songs has been recorded by Analekta with Kent Nagano and the OSM. Kent Nagano was intrigued by those songs when he heard his daughter singing them. He comments: “They were at once both, intensely moving emotionally and disturbing. Their haunting, mysterious beauty has continued to entice all generations since their creation making them actual and vividly relevant to our modern world.”

The label Edel publishes a complete recording of all piano concertos by Beethoven together with the Triple concerto played by Mari Kodama (with Kolja Blacher, violin, and Johannes Moser, cello). The piano concertos No. 4 & 5 are released for the first time as part of the box. Kent Nagano leads the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.