Kent Nagano embarked on a project with Georges Delnon to perform Messiaen’s opera Saint François d’Assise.
The Elbphilharmonie is the venue for a musical and scenic Gesamtkunstwerk with over 300 participants. Kent Nagano worked with Seiji Ozawa on the world premiere of the seldom-performed St Francois d’ Assise in Paris in 1983. Forty years ago, the young conductor lived and worked with Messiaen for over a year – today, he is a leading authority on the music of this brilliant composer, who tirelessly pursued his own independent path.
The performances in Hamburg last week were completely sold out with FAZ writing:
“In the last year of their tenure at the Hamburg State Opera, Georges Delnon and Kent Nagano have taken on the greatest challenge […] the performance in the Elbphilharmonie was perhaps the greatest success of this recent period in Hamburg […].”
Read the full review by Von Jürgen Kesting on Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (5 June 2024).
