Berkeley Symphony Opens 2026-27 Season Today as Kent Nagano Returns to the Podium After 17 Years
OAKLAND, Calif. — Berkeley Symphony opens its 2026-27 season today, Sunday, October 18, at 4 p.m. with Inheritance at the Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts (10 10th St, Oakland), as Music Director Laureate Kent Nagano returns to the orchestra's podium for the first time since 2009.
Nagano led Berkeley Symphony for 31 years, from 1978 to 2009, shaping it into an ensemble known for adventurous programming and a commitment to living composers. The program opens with Mendelssohn's The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave), followed by the world premiere of Vater unser by Argentine composer Alex Nante, a work based on a Bach chorale melody and dedicated to Berkeley Symphony and Nagano. Nante has said Bach's melodies become a point of departure in the piece for an unbound process of orchestral amplification and harmonic elaboration.
Pianist Mari Kodama then joins the orchestra for Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1, and the concert concludes with Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 5, Reformation, whose finale is built on Luther's hymn Ein feste Burg, echoing the evening's theme of transformation from tradition to innovation.
Single tickets start at $20. Through its Students at the Symphony program, the orchestra also offers free admission to East Bay K-12 students for its symphonic series concerts, with reduced-price tickets for accompanying adults.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 资料图：Kent Nagano指挥演出后与乐团谢幕（2024年，Gerda Arendt摄，CC0，via Wikimedia Commons）
