Press Releases
The Université de Montréal confers a doctorate honoris causa
on Kent Nagano
April 19, 2006 – The Université de Montréal today awarded a doctorate honoris causa to Maestro Kent Nagano during a special ceremony in the presence of André Caillé, Chancellor of the Université de Montréal, and Réjean Poirier, Dean of the Faculty of Music.
“I feel especially honoured to be receiving an honorary doctorate from the Université de Montréal and to have my name linked with those of Wilfrid Pelletier and Charles Dutoit, two music directors who helped shape the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal,” stated Mr. Nagano at the ceremony. “The quality of the teaching dispensed at the Faculty of Music, the openness to musical creation from here and elsewhere and the impact of its graduates testify to the indisputable value of this institution.” He thanked most particularly the Faculty of Music of the Université de Montréal for its deep commitment to the Montreal and Canadian musical communities.
For his part, Réjean Poirier, Dean of the Faculty of Music, spoke of the conductor as a model for music students: “On the one hand, he stimulates the performers he leads to exceed themselves; on the other, he nourishes his audience and invites them to develop a curiosity for new musics. We hope that this concern for educating will lead to the development of a close collaboration between the Faculty and Maestro Nagano, so that we can take full advantage of the presence of such a musician in Montreal.”
Kent Nagano was proclaimed doctor honoris causa by Jean-François Rivest, conductor of the Orchestre de l’Université de Montréal: “The extraordinary depth of Kent Nagano stems from the harmony established between two complementary poles of his personality: the musician and the humanist. The first has procured for him a phenomenal ascent to the highest echelons of a musical career, while the second has enabled him to leave an indelible mark on the societies where he has practiced his profession.”
During this special ceremony, pianist Maneli Pirzadeh, professor and graduate of the Faculty of Music of the Université de Montréal, performed an excerpt from a work by Mr. Nagano’s mentor, Olivier Messiaen, and the Orchestre de l’Université de Montréal, under the direction of Jean-François Rivest, presented a movement from Brahms’s Fourth Symphony.
Kent Nagano, music director of the OSM
Kent Nagano has established a reputation as a gifted interpreter in both the symphonic and operatic repertoires. A guest conductor much sought after by the finest international orchestras, Mr. Nagano is Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Music Director of Los Angeles Opera (positions he holds until the end of the 2005-2006 season). Beginning in 2006, he will replace Zubin Mehta as music director of the Bavarian State Opera. Mr. Nagano still retains his association with the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra in California, an orchestra he has served as music director since 1978. Kent Nagano becomes Music Director of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal in September 2006. In February he unveiled the content of the programming for 2006-2007, the first in his capacity as Music Director.
About the Université de Montréal
Founded in 1878, the Université de Montréal today encompasses 13 faculties, and with its two affiliated schools, HEC Montréal and École Polytechnique, is the largest university in Quebec, the second largest in Canada and one of the most important institutions of higher learning in North America. Its faculty consists of 2,400 teachers and researchers and the student body of some 55,000 students, and the university offers over 650 programs at all levels of study, awarding about 3,000 master’s and doctoral degrees every year.
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Note to news desk officers: a photo of the ceremony is available on the CNW newswire.
Source: Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Université de Montréal
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