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Kent Nagano

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Kent Nagano is an American conductor and opera director, born in 1951 in Berkeley. He is a third-generation Japanese American and grew up in Morro Bay, California, where he learned to play piano, viola and clarinet. He studied sociology and music in Santa Cruz and then music in San Francisco, and took lessons at the École Normale de Musique in Paris. His first conducting job was with the Opera Company of Boston. In 1978 he became conductor of the Berkeley Symphony. There he championed the music of Olivier Messiaen, with whom he corresponded and later worked in Paris on his opera Saint François d'Assise.

Music and breakthrough

In 1983 he conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in a number of fully orchestral works by Frank Zappa, who chose him personally. They appeared on the album London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. I. Nagano called that his first real breakthrough. In 1984 he stepped in unannounced and without rehearsal for Seiji Ozawa at the Boston Symphony Orchestra. From 1988 to 1998 he was music director of the Opéra National de Lyon and from 1992 to 1999 principal conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester. The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Los Angeles Opera and later Montreal and Munich followed. From 2015 to 2025 he was general music director of the Hamburg State Opera.

Influence

Nagano is known for his inventive programming, especially in chamber music, and for his commitment to new music. He conducted the world premiere of John Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer in Brussels and in 2000 the premiere of Kaija Saariaho's L'amour de loin in Salzburg. In this way he brings the classical concert hall into contact with new work, and with popular music too.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to one of the Zappa pieces on London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. I. Notice how a large orchestra plays music that comes from a rock musician, with sharp rhythms and unexpected turns.

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists