| Music Encyclopedia: Kent (George) Nagano |
(b Berkeley, ca, 22 Nov 1951). American conductor. He studied at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and at the San Francisco State University. In 1978 he became music director of the Berkeley SO and in 1981 made his début with the LSO. He became music director of Lyons Opéra in 1989 and has worked throughout Europe and North America, conducting the premiere of John Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer in Brussels in1991. He became music director of the Hallé Orchestra in 1992.
| Artist: Kent Nagano |
| Wikipedia: Kent Nagano |
Kent George Nagano (born November 22, 1951) is an American conductor and opera administrator.
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Nagano was born in Berkeley, California, while his parents were in graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley. He grew up in Morro Bay. He is Japanese American. He studied sociology and music at the University of California, Santa Cruz[citation needed]. After graduation he moved to San Francisco State University to study music. While there, he took composition courses from Grosvenor Cooper and Roger Nixon. He also studied at the École Normale de Musique in Paris.[1]
His first conducting job was with the Opera Company of Boston, where he was assistant conductor to Sarah Caldwell. In 1978, he became the conductor of the Berkeley Symphony, his first music directorship. In January 2007, the orchestra announced that Nagano would step down from this position in 2009.[2] During his tenure in Berkeley, Nagano became a champion of the music of Olivier Messiaen and initiated a correspondence with him.[3]
In 1982, Nagano conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in several of Frank Zappa's completely orchestral compositions for the first time. Nagano recorded several of Zappa's pieces on the issue London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. 1, where Zappa had personally chosen Nagano to conduct the orchestra. Nagano described this as "my first chance, my first real break".[4]
In 1985 he was awarded the Seaver/National Endowment for the Arts Conductors Award.
Nagano also was music director of the Opéra de Lyon from 1988-1998. On August 4th, 1996, Björk appeared at the Verbier Festival, and performed Schöenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, with conductor Kent Nagano and the Opera orchestra of Lyon. He served as principal conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester from 1992-1999. During his tenure, Nagano received criticism for his expensive and ambitious programming, as well as his conducting fees.[5] However, poor financial management at the orchestra separately contributed to the fiscal troubles of the orchestra.[6] His contract was not renewed after 1999.
Nagano became principal conductor and artistic director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin in 2000, and served in this position until 2006. He made a number of recordings with the orchestra, including selections of Ludwig van Beethoven, Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Bruckner, Alexander von Zemlinsky, and Gustav Mahler.
Nagano became principal conductor at Los Angeles Opera (LA Opera) starting from the 2001-2002 season. In May 2003, Nagano was named the LA Opera's first ever Music Director, and retained this position through 2006. He has been a regular guest at the Salzburg Festival, where he premiered Kaija Saariaho's L'Amour de loin in 2000. He also conducted the world premiere of John Adams' The Death of Klinghoffer in Brussels.
Nagano became the music director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal in 2006 and of the Bavarian State Opera in 2006, where his current contracts with each organisation are through 2011.[7] His contract with the Bavarian State Opera does not allow him to be the music director of another opera company.[8] He is also one of the Russian National Orchestra's Conductor Collegium.[9]
Nagano is married to the pianist Mari Kodama, and they have one daughter.
| Preceded by John Eliot Gardiner |
Music Director, Opéra National de Lyon 1988-1998 |
Succeeded by Louis Langrée |
| Preceded by Vladimir Ashkenazy |
Principal Conductor, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin 2000-2006 |
Succeeded by Ingo Metzmacher |
| Preceded by no predecessor |
Principal Conductor and Music Director, Los Angeles Opera 2001-2006 |
Succeeded by James Conlon |
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