In September 2006 Kent Nagano succeeded Zubin Mehta as Music Director of the Bayerische Staatsoper.

His first season in Munich commenced with a world premiere of Rihm’s Das Gehege, alongside Strauss’s Salome.

"...Kent Nagano marks his debut as conductor of Munich's Staatsoper with a double bill: Richard Strauss's Salome followed by a world premiere of Wolfgang Rihm's Das Gehege which makes thematic and musical references to the Strauss opera. Reinhard J. Brembeck is deeply impressed: 'Finally the conductor has arrived in Munich. His orchestra, which after years with Zubin Mehta had abandoned itself to great flowing feeling, suddenly sounds interesting down to the last detail. In Nagano, Munich finally has a conductor who is not only willing and able to revive great traditions but also to place them in a contemporary context, investing them with new meaning'"
Süddeutsche Zeitung

The season continued with productions of Britten’s Billy Budd and Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina. In June 2007 he opened the Munich Opera Festival with a world premiere of Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland. New productions for the 2007/08 season include Tchaikovsky’s Eugen Onegin and Mozart’s Idomeneo. Along with the Bayerische Staatsorchester, guest engagements will lead them to Milan, Linz, Bolzano, Regensburg, Nuremberg, Budapest and Baden-Baden, among others.

2007/08 season details...