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).

Todd Cope was appointed Principal Clarinet of the OSM in 2013. He was previously a member of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and a member of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida. In addition, he has performed with the Sun Valley Summer Symphony and Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and has held fellowships at the Aspen and Eastern music festivals, the National Repertory Orchestra, the Music Academy of the West, and the American Institute of Music Studies in Graz, Austria. He graduated from the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati where he studied with Richie Hawley. Todd Cope also completed a professional studies certificate at the Colburn School, where he was a student of Yehuda Gilad. He is currently on the faculty at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University, and is an exclusive performing artist for Buffet Crampon.

Baiba Skride’s natural approach to her music-making has endeared her to some of today’s most important conductors and orchestras worldwide. She is consistently invited for her refreshing interpretations, her sensitivity and delight in the music. The list of prestigious orchestras with whom she has worked include the Berliner Philharmoniker, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, New York Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Orchestre de Paris, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. Notable conductors she collaborates with include Marin Alsop, Christoph Eschenbach, Ed Gardner, Susanna Mälkki, Andris Nelsons, Andres Orozco-Estrada, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Vasily Petrenko, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Tugan Sokhiev, John Storgårds and Simone Young. Skride was born into a musical Latvian family in Riga where she began her studies, transferring in 1995 to the Conservatory of Music and Theatre in Rostock. In 2001 she won the 1st prize of the Queen Elisabeth Competition. Baiba Skride plays the Yfrah Neaman Stradivarius kindly loaned to her by the Neaman family through the Beare’s International Violin Society.