Kent Nagano began his tenure as General Music Director of Bayerische Staatsoper, the Bavarian State Opera, October 27, 2006 with a spectacular double premiere of Rihm's Das Gehege and Richard Strauss' Salome, both produced by William Friedkin (director of the famous 1973 film The Exorcist):
"Finally the conductor has arrived in Munich. His orchestra, which after years with Zubin Mehta had abandoned itself to great flowing feeling, suddenly sounds interesting down to the last detail. In Nagano, Munich finally has a conductor who is not only willing and able to revive great traditions but also to place them in a contemporary context, investing them with new meaning"
Süddeutsche Zeitung, October 30, 2006