SAN FRANCISCO TALK: Kent Nagano - Classical Music: Expect the Unexpected

San Francisco Public Library - Main Branch, 100 Larkin St, San Francisco, CA 94102
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Free & Open to the public

The Kresge Foundation International Center of the San Francisco Public Library presents an afternoon with Maestro Kent Nagano, author of Classical Music: Expect the Unexpected. The format will be a conversation between Kent Nagano and San Francisco Chronicle Classical Music Critic Joshua Kosman.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In Classical Music: Expect the Unexpected the world-famous classical conductor tells the deeply personal story of his own engagement with the masterpieces and great composers of classical music, his work with the world's major orchestras, and his tireless commitment to bringing his music to everybody. Narrating his first childhood encounters with music's power to overcome social and ethnic boundaries, he celebrates an art form that has always taken part in debates about human values and societal developments. The constantly declining relevance of classical music in these disrupted times, he argues, not only impoverishes society from a cultural perspective but robs it of inspiration, wit, emotional depth, and a sense of community. Getting to grips with classical music's existential crisis, Nagano contends that it is too crucial to humanity's survival to be allowed to silently disappear from our everyday reality.

Kent Nagano is a renowned conductor working all over the globe. Born in the United States, he grew up in Morro Bay, a fishing village on the west coast of California. After gaining success as a conductor in the US, he was appointed music director at the Opéra National de Lyon in 1988, where he served until 1998. From 1991 to 2000, he stood at the helm of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, and in 2003 he was appointed first music director of the Los Angeles Opera. From 2000 to 2006 he was chief conductor and artistic director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin before becoming general music director at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich (until July 2013) and music director of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. In 2015, he began his tenure as general music director and chief conductor of the Hamburg State Opera.