Kent Nagano

__FORCETOC__Kent Nagano (born November 22, 1951) is an American conductor and opera administrator.

Biography

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 CruzFact|date=July 2008. After graduation he moved to San Francisco State University to study music. While there, he took composition courses from Grosvenor Cooper and Roger Nixon.

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, it was announced that he will step down from this position in 2009. [cite news | url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/01/22/DDGQLNJTP91.DTL&type=music | title=Nagano showed that rule breaking can make a careers | publisher=San Francisco Chronicle | author=Joshua Kosman | date=22 Jan 2007 | accessdate=2007-06-16] During his tenure in Berkeley, Nagano became a champion of the music of Olivier Messiaen and initiated a correspondence with him. [cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE3D6103DF932A35752C1A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all | title=Nagano With a Little Bit of Luck, a Conducting Career Flourishes | publisher=New York Times | author=Allan Kozinn | date=1 November 1987 | accessdate=2007-10-30]

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". [cite web
date= 2008-09-04
last= Burnett
first= Richard
url= http://www.hour.ca/music/music.aspx?iIDArticle=15442
title= Nagano grooves
publisher= Hour (magazine)
accessdate= 2008-09-04]

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. 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. [cite news | url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,299041,00.html | title=Nagano passes on Halle baton | publisher=The Guardian | author=John Ezard | date=25 May 1999 | accessdate=2007-06-16] However, poor financial management at the orchestra separately contributed to the fiscal troubles of the orchestra. [cite news | url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/friday_review/story/0,,296869,00.html | title=Say Hallé, wave goodbye | publisher=The Guardian | author=Stephen Moss | date=28 May 1999 | accessdate=2007-06-16] 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. His contract with the Bavarian State Opera does not allow him to be the music director of another opera company. [cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9900E2D61639F934A2575AC0A9629C8B63 | title=National Briefing, West: California: Short Stay For A Music Director | publisher=New York Times | author=Daniel J. Wakin | date=17 Sep 2004 | accessdate=2007-06-16] He is also one of the Russian National Orchestra's Conductor Collegium. [cite news | url=http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1171738,00.html | title=Batons at dawn | publisher=The Guardian | author=Vadim Prokhorov | date=18 March 2004 | accessdate=2007-06-16]

Nagano is married to the pianist Mari Kodama, and they have one daughter.

References

External links

* [http://www.kentnagano.com/ Kent Nagano official website]
* [http://www.osm.ca/en/index_orchestre_direction-musicale_biographie.cfm Kent Nagano] at the Montreal Symphony Orchestra
*allmusic|41:42156
* [http://www.osm.ca/en/index_orchestre_da_disco.cfm Kent Nagano discography]