Erik Nielsen

Biography

Erik Nielsen became Chief Conductor of the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra in September 2015 and Music Director of the Tiroler Festspiele Erl in September 2022. He was Music Director of Theater Basel from 2016 – 2018. He joined the Frankfurt Opera in 2002 and was Kapellmeister there from 2008 – 2012. Prior to moving to Frankfurt, he played harp in the Berlin Philharmonic as a member of its Orchester-Akademie. He studied conducting at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and received his bachelor’s degree as a double-major in oboe and harp at The Juilliard School in New York. In the summer 2007 he attended Tanglewood, conducting orchestral and chamber concerts and assisting James Levine with Don Carlos, and he returned in 2008 to conduct a production of Mahagonny. In September 2009 he was awarded the $25,000 Solti Fellowship by the US Solti Foundation. In March 2010 he made his US opera début with Ariadne auf Naxos for Boston Lyric Opera which was followed by The Magic Flute at the Metropolitan Opera, New York.

During his years in Frankfurt Erik Nielsen conducted a wide repertoire, ranging from Handel to Reimann (the German premiere of Medea). In January 2009 Erik Nielsen made his London debut conducting The Magic Flute for English National Opera.

Opera engagements in recent years include Krenek’s Karl V, Das Rheingold and Peter Grimes for the Bayerische Staatsoper, a double bill of Oedipus Rex and Il prigioniero, Hartmann’s Simplicus Simplicissimus, Henze’s Gisela! and We Come to the River as well as Lohengrin, Pelleas et Melisande and Rusalka at the Semper Oper Dresden, the world premiere of Trojahn’s Eurydice for Dutch National Opera, La Traviata for Deutsche Oper Berlin, Cosi fan Tutte with Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos, Lisbon, Reimann’s Lear for Malmo Opera, Otello, Norma, Giulio Cesare, Billy Budd and Ariane et Barbe-bleu in Frankfurt, Salome, Peter Grimes and Trojahn’s Oreste for Opernhaus Zürich, The Merchant of Venice at the Bregenz Festival, the world premeiere of Dai Fujikawa’s Solaris at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, La forza del destino in Luxembourg, Die Tote Stadt and Salome in Bilbao, The Rake’s Progress for Hungarian State Opera, Elektra, Eugene Onegin, Macbeth, Die Tote Stadt and Lucio Silla in Basel and Carmen and Peter Pan for Welsh National Opera. In summer 2023 he completed The Ring at the Tiroler Festspiele, directed by Brigitte Fassbaender, and will conduct complete Cycles in summer 2024.

Future plans include Oedipus Rex in Amsterdam, Aida in Frankfurt and The Love for Three Oranges in Dresden..

Concert engagements include performances with Chicago Civic Orchestra, Kölner Kammerorchester, the Royal Swedish Opera, Basel Sinfonieorchester, Orquesta Sinfónica de Bilbao, Orquesta Sinfonica Castilla y Leon, Orquestra Sinfonica Portuguesa in Lisbon, Sinefonieorchester Basel, RTE National Symphony Orchestra., Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Philharmonie Südwestfalen, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern, Junge Deustche Philharmonie, the World Youth Symphony Orchestra at the Interlochen Arts Camp, and the Royal Northern Sinfonia.

Singing the Praises of Greed and Naked Capitalism

He drew dynamic playing from the excellent orchestra and seemed at home in a challenging score that blurs distinctions between opera, musical theater and 1920s German cabaret, evoking everything from Bach fugues to the foxtrot, from medieval chant to the tango, from Stravinsky orchestral barbarism to jazzy banjo and saxophone.

Anthony Tommasini The New York Times

Erik Nielsen’s leadership of the concentrated orchestra was masterly…. The awestruck audience had held their breath for two hours, sharing the suffering on stage – a rare, unanimous storm of applause broke the tension at the end of the work.

Culture Neue Presse