Erik Nielsen is making his debut at the HGO podium conducting Tannhäuser. He is the chief conductor of the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra and the music director of the Tiroler Festspiele Erl. Previously, he was music director of Theater Basel and kapellmeister at Frankfurt Opera. In 2009, he made his London debut conducting The Magic Flute for English National Opera, and the next year he made his U.S. opera debut with Ariadne auf Naxos for Boston Lyric Opera, followed by The Magic Flute at the Metropolitan Opera. Opera engagements in recent years include Krenek’s Karl V, Das Rheingold, and Peter Grimes for the Bavarian State Opera; 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, Pelléas et Mélisande, and Rusalka at the Semperoper Dresden; the world premiere of Trojahn’s Eurydice for Dutch National Opera; La traviata for Deutsche Oper Berlin; Così 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-bleue in Frankfurt; Salome, Peter Grimes, and Trojahn’s Oreste for Opernhaus Zürich; The Merchant of Venice at the Bregenz Festival; the world premiere 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, Nielsen completed The Ring at the Tiroler Festspiele, directed by Brigitte Fassbaender, and he conducted the complete Ring cycle in summer 2024. Other 2024 engagements include Oedipus Rex in Amsterdam, Aida in Frankfurt, and The Love for Three Oranges in Dresden.