Kent Nagano addresses the audience

BERKELEY — Maestro Kent Nagano, who has been with the Berkeley Symphony for 30 years, conducted his last concert as music director on Sept. 18 at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall.

The evening included a piece commissioned by the symphony’s board for the occasion, Kurt Rohde’s “Bis Bald” (German for “see you soon”) and the presentation of a proclamation by Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates. Kathleen Henschel, the symphony’s board president, also recognized Nagano.

Addressing the audience, Nagano reflected on his long tenure with the symphony: “What is it that has made it so special? On the large range of things, a conductor is not really very important as far as an orchestra tradition is concerned. Individual players come and go, conductors come and go.

“But there comes that special moment in time when we realize that what we have we can call a tradition now — we can call that an institution. To me personally, it means there has been a consistent dialogue and a very, very special relationship between the audience and the stage.”

Nagano commented that whereas this season marks his own 30th anniversary with the orchestra, an even more important milestone is the fact that Berkeley Symphony is now celebrating its 40th year of existence:

“The miracle by which this orchestra has established itself as a tradition has to do with the public that has come to share this artistic experience. Somehow that relationship was special enough to allow this orchestra to gain a foundation, to have concrete under its feet so that it can look forward to the next generation.

“What we’ve done together in these shared evenings is we’ve guaranteed that this tradition that we enjoy and are so privileged to be a part of ... now will go on to the next generation.”

Nagano received rousing applause from the audience when he said, “The real celebration tonight is this wonderful relationship that we have over the years. I’d like to thank you very much from my heart.”

He noted that there is a large number of Berkeley Symphony musicians who have been members as long as he has been music director: “Behind me are an astonishing number of musicians, artists who played with me in the first concert. That first concert we ran out of money, so we had to go into a makeshift performance space! An astonishing number of people have been in this orchestra ever since.”

It was an emotional evening with some of the orchestra members in tears.

Nagano, who is also music director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and the Bayerische Staatsoper, concluded by thanking both the audience and orchestra for their role in his becoming one of today’s most successful conductors internationally: “You were very tolerant. You allowed me to grow up on this stage.”

Many of Nagano’s relatives attended the concert, including his mother, brother and sister, Joan Nagano, a noted classical pianist.

Nagano’s 30th anniversary season concludes next year with two concerts at First Congregational Church of Berkeley on Sunday, May 17, and Sunday, May 31. He will conduct the new Berkeley Akademie Ensemble, made up of Berkeley Symphony musicians, in repertoire for small orchestra of Bach, Brahms, Mozart, and more.

He officially concludes his tenure as music director with these performances, assuming the title of conductor laureate.

The Berkeley Symphony is in the final stages of the search for his successor, which includes William Eddins on Oct. 23, Paul Haas on Nov. 20, and Joana Carneiro on Dec. 18. An announcement of the next music director is expected in February 2009.