Erik Nielsen worked at Oper Frankfurt for many years (from 2008/09 as Kapellmeister). He built up a broad and varied repertoire while with the company and now returns as a welcome guest. Recent engagements have included Die Zauberflöte at the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome and a new production of Henze’s We come to the river at the Semperoper in Dresden. Future engagements include a new production of Reimann’s Lear in Malmö and the world premeire of André Tchaikovsky’s Der Kaufmann von Venedig/The Merchant of Venice at the Bregenz Festival. He received offers from all over the world during his time in Frankfurt and won the 2009 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award from the Solti Foundation in the USA. He made his debuts at English National Opera in London with Die Zauberflöte in 2009, the Boston Lyric Opera (Ariadne auf Naxos), Semperoper in Dresden and Metropolitan Opera New York (Die Zauberflöte) in 2010. In 2011/12 he returned to Dresden for Simplicius Simplicissimus and Lohengrin, made his debuts in Lisbon with Così fan tutte, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with La Traviata and Bilbao with Die tote Stadt. His triumphs at Oper Frankfurt included the first performances in Germany of Reimann’s Medea (now available in the foyer on CD - OehmsClassics).