Kent Nagano became Music Director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in September 2006. At the time of his appointment he said…

"It is with great pleasure and keen anticipation that I accept the invitation from the board of directors of the Montréal Symphony to be the new Music Director of this highly respected Orchestra as of 2006 – and, at the same time, become part of the wonderful Montréal community which, for me, combines the best features of North American and European Cultures”

A common thread ran through Nagano’s first season in Montreal: Ludwig van Beethoven and his musical heirs including Mendelssohn, Brahms, Schumann and Wagner. Highlights of the season included Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder and performances of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde alongside the more contemporary works of Ives, Ustwolskaja, Nono and Messiaen. New Music also featured prominently with commissions from Canadian composers Michel Longtin and Ana Sokolovic

In April 2006 Nagano took the orchestra on a coast-to-coast tour of Canada – the first time in the orchestra’s history. Read about it here…..

Nagano’s first summer in Montreal included concerts at the Mozart Plus and Lanaudière Festivals as well as a visit to the Percival Molson Stadium, home to the famous Alouettes, for a family concert in support of local children’s charities.

The 2006/07 season was pronounced a great triumph, with all of Nagano’s concerts playing to full houses.

Highlights of the 2007/08 season will include a guest performance at the Carnegie Hall in New York in March as well as a tour of Japan in April 2008, among others. After the success of last season’s Tristan and Isolde, Kent Nagano will conduct a concert version of Wagner’s Tannhäuser in Montreal, a large-scale work that Montrealers have not heard in its entirety for almost a century.