Conductor
World excluding Scandinavia
Born in 1987 in Radolfzell am Bodensee (Germany), Nikolas Nägele graduated in conducting, piano and clarinet from the Hochschule für Musik in Munich and Leipzig.
Kapellmeister at Deutsche Oper Berlin from 2017 to 2020, he has conducted in many productions in Berlin including Carmen, Die Zauberflöte, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Die Fledermaus, La traviata and Un ballo in maschera.
In addition to Berlin, he has conducted at many prestigious European opera houses: Opera House Zürich (L’elisir d’amore), Opéra Royal de Wallonie Liège (Die Fledermaus), Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Peer Gynt), Teatro Regio di Torino (Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto and Salieri’s La scuola de’ gelosi), Teatro Filarmonico di Verona (La scala di seta), Teatro Comunale di Bologna (La cenerentola), Teatro Verdi di Trieste (Die Fledermaus), Olympia Theatre Athens (La cenerentola, Rossini’s Stabat Mater and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater) Leipzig Oper (Die Zauberflöte), Festival Granda in Lima (Turandot).
In Summer 2019 he conducted Il viaggio a Reims at Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro and since then he has cooperated several times with ROF. In July 2017 he made his debut at Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca conducting Gianni Schicchi.
On the concert side, he has collaborated with numerous leading orchestras, such as Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, KBS Symphony Orchestra Seoul, Orchestra del Teatro Regio di Torino, Orchestra del Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari, Orchestra del Teatro Lirico di Cagliari.
A prize winner of the prestigious “2013 Aspen Festival Conducting Prize” and “2012 James Conlon Conducting Prize”, he worked as assistant conductor at Aspen Music Festival, close to his mentor Robert Spano, and in 2014 he made his US debut with Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra conducting Dvořák’s 8th Symphony and Ravel’s G-Major Piano Concerto. Furthermore he was a Finalist in the “2nd International Sir Georg Solti Conducting Competition” of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Till July 2017 he worked as Pianist and Conductor at the International Young Artist Program of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, where he conducted Hänsel and Gretel and where in 2019 he has also assisted Fabio Luisi for the production of Lear by Aribert Reimann. He has been also musical assistant of Christian Thielemann, both at Bayreuth Festival and at Easter Festival in Salzburg.
LATEST PERFORMANCES: Il trovatore at Teatro Municipal in Lima; concerts at Noorlands Operan (Umea, Sweden); Die Fledermaus at Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège and at Teatro Lirico in Cagliari; L’italiana in Algeri at Noorlands Operan (Umea, Sweden).
FORTHCOMING PROJECTS: concerts with Mexico National Symphony Orchestra at Teatro de Bellas Artes in Mexico City and with Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana; Gounod’s Faust at Opera Australia Sydney.
