First Results from the CMS Heavy Ion Program

We will present an overview of the CMS results from PbPb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV, probing quark-gluon matter at unprecedented energy density. The CMS apparatus provides calorimetry, muon and tracking systems covering a large range in pseudorapidity, complemented by a flexible two-level trigger system. This allows for the study of the production of jets, photons, charged hadrons, quarkonia and vector bosons at large transverse momenta as a function of collision centrality. Results from the rare probe signals, alongside with measurements of particle correlations and collective flow over a broad kinematic range, would provide the means to characterize the properties of the produced medium.