Nagano, Kent (George)

Nagano, Kent (George), remarkable American conductor; b. Morro Bay, Calif, (of Japanese-American parents), Nov. 22, 1951. He studied at the Univ. of Oxford (1969), with Grosvenor Cooper at the Univ. of Calif, at Santa Cruz (B.A., 1974), at San Francisco State Univ. (M.M., 1976), and at the Univ. of Toronto, and also had instruction in conducting from Laszlo Varga in San Francisco. He was associated with Sarah Caldwell’s Opera Co. of Boston (1977–79). He then was made music director of the Berkeley (Calif.) Sym. Orch. (1978) and of the Ojai (Calif.) Music Festival (1984). While working as an asst. conductor with the Boston Sym. Orch., he was called upon to substitute for Ozawa at the last moment and led a notably successful performance of Mahler’s 9^th Sym. without benefit of rehearsal (Nov. 30, 1984). In 1985 he was the first co-recipient (with Hugh Wolff) of the Affiliate Artist’s Seaver Conducting Award. He subsequently appeared as a guest conductor with various orchs. on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1989 he became chief conductor of the Opéra de Lyon. In 1991 he also was named principal conductor designate of the Halle Orch. in Manchester, serving as its principal conductor from 1994 to 1998. In 2000 he became chief conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and that same year was named principal conductor of the Los Angeles Opera. He was made an Officier in the Order of Arts and Letters of France in 1993. Nagano is highly regarded for his diversified repertoire, and for his rare insight into contemporary scores.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis Mclntire