Kent Nagano has established an international reputation as one of the most insightful and visionary interpreters of both the operatic and symphonic repertoire. In September 2006, he became Music Director of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and General Music Director of the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich.
With the OSM, Kent Nagano has recorded the double album Beethoven: Ideals of the French Revolution, featuring Symphony No. 5 and The General, an original work paying tribute to lieutenant-general Romeo Dallaire (Sony/Analekta), Mahler’s The Song of the Earth with tenor Klaus Florian Vogt and baritone Christian Gerhaher (Sony), works by contemporary composer Unsuk Chin featuring violinist Viviane Hagner (Analekta), Beethoven’s Fourth and Fifth Piano Concertos featuring pianist Till...

Kent Nagano has established an international reputation as one of the most insightful and visionary interpreters of both the operatic and symphonic repertoire. In September 2006, he became Music Director of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and General Music Director of the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich.
With the OSM, Kent Nagano has recorded the double album Beethoven: Ideals of the French Revolution, featuring Symphony No. 5 and The General, an original work paying tribute to lieutenant-general Romeo Dallaire (Sony/Analekta), Mahler’s The Song of the Earth with tenor Klaus Florian Vogt and baritone Christian Gerhaher (Sony), works by contemporary composer Unsuk Chin featuring violinist Viviane Hagner (Analekta), Beethoven’s Fourth and Fifth Piano Concertos featuring pianist Till Fellner (ECM/Universal), the album Gods, Heroes, and Men, featuring Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 and music from The Creatures of Prometheus (Sony/Analekta), and the album In the Breath of Time, featuring Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 6 and 8 and Grosse Fuge, with the special participation of David Suzuki as narrator (Sony worldwide, OSM label in Canada).

Born in California, Nagano spent his early professional years in Boston, working in the opera house and as assistant conductor to Seiji Ozawa at the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Kent Nagano was Music Director of the Opéra National de Lyon (1988-1998), Music Director of the Hallé Orchestra (1991-2000), Associate Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra (1990-1998) and Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin from 2000 to 2006. He was also Music Director of the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra from 1978 to 2009 and remains Conductor Laureate. In the 2007/ 2008 season he became Founding Music Director of the new Berkeley Academy Ensemble. Kent Nagano was the first Music Director of the Los Angeles Opera from 2003 to 2006, having held the position of Principal Conductor for the previous two years. As a much sought-after guest conductor, Kent Nagano has worked with most of the world’s finest orchestras.

He has recorded for Erato, Teldec, Pentatone and Deutsche Grammophon as well as Analekta, Sony, ECM, Universal and Harmonia Mundi, winning Grammy awards for his recordings of Busoni’s Doktor Faust with the Opéra National de Lyon, Peter and the Wolf with the Russian National Orchestra, and L’Amour de Loin by Kaija Saariaho with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.