Kent Nagano is considered one of today’s outstanding conductors for both operatic and orchestral repertoire. Since September 2015, he has been General Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera and Chief Conductor of the Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg. In addition, he is Artistic Director of the Ring project “The Wagner Cycles” with Concerto Köln and Dresdner Festspielorchester, and as patron of the Herrenchiemsee Festival. He is Honorary Conductor of the Deutsche Symphonie Orchester Berlin since 2006, Concerto Köln since 2019, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal since 2021 and the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra since 2023.

The 2024-25 season will be Nagano's final season of his tenure in Hamburg and brings four new productions to the Staatsoper alongside orchestral performances at Elbphilharmonie and a tour to Asia. This season, he guest conducts the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks in Passau, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester in Berlin. Guest Opera productions this season include Il Viaggio, Dante, by Pascal Dusapin at the Paris Opera and the revival of Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre at the Bayerische Staatsoper Münich.

Under the artistic direction of Kent Nagano and the Intendant of the Dresdner Musikfestspiele Jan Vogler, Wagner's Ring Tetralogy is being performed from 2023 to 2026, in the artistic context of the period in which it was composed, based on the latest findings of research into Wagner and performance practice.

Born in California, Kent Nagano was awarded in February 2024 the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by the Federal President and in June 2024 he was awarded the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honor. He is the recipient of the 2024 Brahms Prize of the Brahms Society of Schleswig-Holstein.