Kent Nagano to lead the Spanish National Orchestra

[ritter]

The appointment of Kent Nagano as musical director of the Spanish National Orchestra and Chorus (based in Madrid) has just been announced. Mr. Nagano will take over from the current MD David Afkham at the start of the 2026/27 season.

Wow! Great news! 

[Brian]

Very cool! Nagano seems to be one of the most enterprising and creative conductors around for trying alternative versions, exploring new repertoire, and learning the music of the areas where he works.

[ritter]

Yes, he is very innovative in terms of programming.

I've seen hem live three times IIRC, always in opera: a double bill of Rihm's Das Gehege and R. Strauss' Salome in Munich, then Tristan in Hamburg, and finally Henze's The Bassarids in concert form here in Madrid with the orchestra he's now been appointed to. He was very convincing every time, so I look forward to his tenure in my home town.

[Vox Maris]

Nagano is a rather special conductor for me and you guys are rather fortunate to have him in your company. Hopefully, great things are on the way with him at the helm.

[huanmarriess]

For me, Nagano is a very exceptional conductor, and you guys are really lucky to have him around. With him leading, hopefully, wonderful things are coming.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Nice! This is great news, Rafael. Nagano is one of my favorite living conductors. He seems to always have an alternate view of the music he conducts, which makes him unique and different from so many others working today.

[Karl Henning]

Excellent!

[CRCulver]

I was living in Madrid two decades ago when I got into classical music as mainly twentieth-century classical music, and it was a lonely place to be. The clerks at classical record shops took the piss if I asked for a composer like Ligeti, and concert programming was disappointing. That modernism has become easier to hear in the city (even if those record shops are all gone) and a more adventurous conductor like Nagano is there now, is a great development.