Renowned maestro Kent Nagano served as principal conductor of the Deutches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin from 2000 to 2006, directly preceding Ingo Metzmacher.

Born in 1951, Nagano grew up in California. His conducting career began in 1978 at the Berkeley Symphony, a post he is to relinquish in 2009. Nagano has been active in some of the world's top opera houses and orchestras and has held positions at the Opera Nationale de Lyon, the Halle Orchestra in Manchester and the Los Angeles Opera.

Since leaving Berlin in 2006, Nagano has been music director at both the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal and the Bavarian State Opera.

Deutsche Welle's Rick Fulker met up with Nagano in the middle of his time at DSO, in 2002 and 2003. Click on the links below to hear excerpts from their talks.