Berkeley Symphony’s Music Director Laureate Kent Nagano returns to conduct the ‘26/’27 season opener, Inheritance, on Sunday, October 18, 2026. Nagano, a Berkeley native, directed the Berkeley Symphony from 1978 to 2009, and this will be his first return to the podium.
Nagano has created Inheritance, featuring selected works by Felix Mendelssohn and a world premiere of Vater unser, a new work by Argentine composer Alex Nante. Vater unser takes a Bach chorale as its point of departure, transforming inherited musical material into a luminous new sound world. Nante has dedicated Vater unser to the Berkeley Symphony and Nagano.
“The program for Inheritance is based on a dramaturgy founded upon a Bach ‘thread.’”, says Berkeley Symphony Executive Director Marion Atherton. “The collection of pieces are a reflection on the idea of musical inheritance—how composers and performers carry ideas forward and transform them.”
Inheritance promises to be evocative of Nagano’s important past with Berkeley and the Berkeley Symphony, and also his commitment to sharing his art and creative life to the world. Even more beautifully poignant, pianist Mari Kodama will be featured on two of the Mendelssohn pieces.
“From my perspective, the concert is also an opportunity to reflect on the idea of inheritance as it applied to the orchestra itself. Kent’s return gives us an opportunity to reflect on Berkeley Symphony’s artistic history and the artists who have shaped it, while also looking toward the future,” adds Atherton. “Kent served as the orchestra’s Music Director for more than three decades. Having him return now, alongside his wife Mari Kodama, feels like a particularly meaningful connection between the orchestra’s past and its next chapter.”
Nagano adds, “Throughout centuries, history has consistently reaffirmed that sharing the experience of great music and the arts as a community opens the doorway to a future of hope and of optimism.”
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Sunday, October 18, 2026 | 4:00pm
Kent Nagano Conducts
Inheritance
Berkeley Symphony
Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts
10 10th Street
Oakland, CA 94607
510-841-2800