Nagano

Kent Nagano likes to let his hair down. Perhaps because it keeps time as he conducts, bobbing like a hippie metronome. But would you expect anything less from the Californian maestro who premiered orchestral works by Frank Zappa back with the London Symphony back in the ’80s?

Whether in Berlin, where until recently he led the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, or as the chief conductor of the Bavarian State Opera, Nagano has demonstrated a proven knack for attracting new audiences by placing a premium on edgy new music—but not at the expense of traditional repertoire.

Nagano is in his second season at the helm of the the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, which he will bring to Carnegie Hall on March 8; though far from West Coast home of his youth, Nagano feels at home in the frosty Canadian city, which he has said perfectly balances his interest in both the novel and the traditional by combining the “best features of North American and European culture.”

The programming for the Carnegie Hall concert perfectly reflects this approach. In addition to performing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, a symphonic standard from the 19th century, with Joshua Bell, Nagano and the OSM will also give the US premiere of a commissioned work by Korean composer Unsuk Chin.    

A favorite in Montreal since filling in there for Seiji Ozawa to perform Mahler’s Ninth Symphony in 1999, Nagano has been a real hit as the new full-time music director, and there is no secret to how Nagano succeeds at winning the hearts and minds of both his audiences and musicians. It isn’t merely his technical precision and or good looks. Nagano takes an intellectual approach that doesn’t come at the expense of the emotional weight and impact of music.

But Nagano is also aware that concert music cannot afford to present itself as a museum piece consigned to the temple of high art. He resists the idea that there should be a rigid model for musical performance: “We can be imaginative in approaching it: not for experiment’s sake, but to make possible new and unusual perceptions and encounters.”

New York audiences can be guaranteed fresh “perceptions and encounters” when Nagano and his Quebecois collaborators visit Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage in March.