Kent Nagano is acclaimed as an outstanding conductor for both operatic and orchestral repertoire. He has been General Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera and Chief Conductor of the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg since September 2015. In addition, he serves as Artistic Director of the Wagner Readings, a project that aims to revisit Wagner's Tetralogy from a performance practice perspective, in collaboration with the Concerto Köln Chamber Orchestra and the Dresden Festival Orchestra. Kent Nagano is a patron of the Herrenchiemsee Festival, and was appointed Honorary Conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (2006), of the Concerto Köln (2019), and of the OSM (2021). The many highlights of Kent Nagano’s collaboration with the OSM as Music Director from 2006 to 2020 include the inauguration of the Orchestra’s new concert hall, the Maison symphonique de Montréal in September 2011. Nagano and the OSM have toured in Canada including Northern Quebec, and internationally in Japan, South Korea, Europe (latest tour in 2019), Latin America and the USA. In July 2018, Kent Nagano conducted Krzysztof Penderecki’s St. Luke Passion with the OSM on the occasion of the Salzburg Festival opening concert. Maestro Nagano's recent recording releases include a 3-CD box set of works by Olivier Messiaen (BR Klassik label, 2021). He also published his second book, 10 Lessons of my Life (Berlin Verlag, 2021) in which he recalls ten highly personal encounters in his life, each bringing important lessons that transcend his career path. Previously, in 2015 Kent Nagano published Erwarten Sie Wunder! (Berlin Verlag), a passionate appeal for the relevance of classical music in today’s world. This book was also published in English (Expect the Unexpected, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2019) and in French (Sonnez, Merveilles, Éditions du Boréal, 2015).

Andrew Wan was named Concertmaster of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal in 2008. As a soloist, he has performed throughout the world under the direction of such conductors as Vengerov, Petrenko, Labadie, Rizzi, Oundjian, Stern, and DePreist, among others, and has given chamber music concerts with many artists, including the Juilliard String Quartet, Repin, Hamelin, Trifonov, Pressler, Widmann, Ax, Ehnes, and Shaham. He has served as guest concertmaster of the Pittsburgh, Houston, Toronto, National Arts Centre and Indianapolis Symphonies. His recordings with Kent Nagano and the OSM, Charles Richard-Hamelin, James Ehnes and the Seattle Chamber Music Society, the Metropolis Ensemble, and the New Orford String Quartet have received a GRAMMY nomination, two Juno Awards, and multiple Felix and Opus Awards. Mr. Wan holds three degrees from the Juilliard School and is currently Assistant Professor of Violin at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University, and Artistic Director of Les Solistes de l’OSM. He plays a Michel’Angelo Bergonzi violin (1744), on generous loan from the David Sela collection, for which he extends his warmest thanks. He also performs on an 1860 Dominique Peccatte bow, graciously loaned by Canimex.