Kent Nagano is acclaimed as an outstanding conductor for both operatic and orchestral repertoire. He has been General Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera and Chief Conductor of the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg since September 2015. In addition, he serves as Artistic Director of the Wagner Readings with Concerto Köln and the Dresden Festival Orchestra, and as patron of the Herrenchiemsee Festival. In 2006, Nagano was appointed Honorary Conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, in 2019 of Concerto Köln and in 2021 of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM).

The many highlights of Kent Nagano’s collaboration with the OSM as Music Director from 2006 to 2020 include the inauguration of the orchestra’s new concert hall, the Maison symphonique de Montréal in September 2011. Nagano and the OSM have toured in Canada including the Northern Territories, and internationally in Japan, South Korea, Europe (latest tour in 2019), Latin America and the USA. In July 2018, Kent Nagano conducted Krzysztof Penderecki’s St. Luke Passion with the OSM on the occasion of the Salzburg Festival opening concert.

Recent recording releases include a 3-CD box set of works by Olivier Messiaen (BR Klassik label, 2021) as well as Nagano’s second book, “10 Lessons of my Life“ (Berlin Verlag, 2021) in which he recalls ten highly personal encounters in his life, each bringing important lessons that transcend his career path. Previously, in 2015 Kent Nagano published “Erwarten Sie Wunder!” (Berlin Verlag), a passionate appeal for the relevance of classical music in today’s world. This book was also published in English by McGill-Queen’s University Press and in French by Éditions du Boréal.