The General Music Director of the Komische Oper Berlin from 2012 to 2017, Henrik Nánási conducted new productions of Mazeppa, Eugene Onegin, Gianni Schicchi, La Belle Hélène, Die Zauberflöte, Così fan tutte, Don Giovanni, Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, The Fiery Angel, La clemenza di Tito, Cendrillon and The Fair at Sorochyntsi, as well as revivals of Falstaff, Der Rosenkavalier, Rusalka and Rigoletto, among others. Since his appointment in 2012, the Komische Oper Berlin has been named “Opera House of the Year 2013” by Opera World Magazine and “Opera Company of the Year 2015” at the Opera Awards.
Highlights of M° Nánási’s 2024/25 season include a new production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at the Royal Ballet and Opera Covent Garden, Don Carlo at Teatro di San Carlo, Rigoletto at Hamburg State Opera, a new production of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, the house debuts at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées with a brand new production of Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, and at Teatro Real with La Traviata. On the concert podium he will conduct the Hungarian premiere of Messa per Rossini with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, a concert with soprano Asmik Grigorian and Orquesta Titular del Teatro Real, Schönberg’s Gurre-Lieder with the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra and Choir.
M° Nánási is a regular guest at the world’s major opera houses including The Metropolitan Opera (Iolanta, Duke Bluebeard’s Castle), Royal Opera House Covent Garden (Turandot, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Salome, Simon Boccanegra, Jenůfa – awarded with an Olivier Award 2022 as Best New Opera Production – Der fliegende Holländer), Teatro alla Scala (Elektra), San Francisco Opera (Elektra, Le Nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte), Bayerische Staatsoper München (La Traviata, Rusalka), Opéra National de Paris (Die Zauberflöte), Gran Teatre del Liceu (Die Zauberflöte, Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci, Tosca), Lyric Opera of Chicago (Le Nozze di Figaro, Madama Butterfly, Carmen), Opernhaus Zürich (Le Nozze di Figaro), Teatro dell’Opera di Roma (La Bohème, Die Zauberflöte), Arena di Verona (Carmen), Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia (Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, Macbeth, Werther, Iolanta), Hamburg State Opera (Otello, Lucia di Lammermoor, La Traviata), Oper Frankfurt (La Bohème, I Masnadieri, L’Étoile, La Gazza Ladra, Otello,
La Juive), Semperoper Dresden (L’Italiana in Algeri, La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, La Traviata, La Cenerentola), Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Roméo et Juliette), ABAO Bilbao Opera (Madama Butterfly), Opéra de Monte-Carlo (Werther), Teatro di San Carlo (I Vespri Siciliani), Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville (Tristan und Isolde).
On the concert stage, he has worked with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Bruckner Orchester Linz, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Filarmonica del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice di Venezia, Essener Philharmoniker, Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, Orchestra del Teatro di San Carlo di Napoli, Orchestra del Teatro Massimo Palermo, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Simfònica Illes Balears, Hungarian State Opera Orchestra, Filarmonica del Teatro Comunale di Modena, Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid, Sinfonia Varsovia.
His recording projects include DVD recordings of the Royal Opera’s Turandot and Jenůfa (available with Opus Arte), the Arena di Verona’s Carmen (available with Bel Air Classiques) and the CD recording of the Oper Frankfurt’s La Gazza Ladra (available with Oehms Classics).
Henrik Nánási was born in Pécs/Hungary. After studying piano and composition at the Béla Bartók Conservatory in Budapest he continued his studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna in orchestral conducting, coaching, and composition. He worked as a musical assistant at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden under Sir Antonio Pappano as well as at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, and he was intensely active in concerts as a pianist and Lieder accompanist. After early engagements in Klagenfurt and Augsburg, he became First Conductor and Vice Chief Conductor at the Staatstheater am Gaertnerplatz in Munich before he moved to Berlin in 2012. M° Nánási is married to composer Veronika Ágnes Fáncsik, they currently live in Berlin.
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“Henrik Nánási, qui a notamment reçu le « Helga di oro », prix consacrant meilleur chef de l’année 2016 suite à sa direction de Macbeth à Valence avec Placido Domingo dans le rôle-titre, brille ici dans la direction de l’orchestre de l’opéra de Paris, portant une attention toute singulière aux chanteurs avec qui il communique en cherchant à créer une harmonie toute millimétrée comme le sont les déplacements en scène – presque Wilsoniens.”
Maeva Da Cruz, Bachtrack
“The musical direction was in the hands of Henrik Nanasi, currently the music director of the Komische Oper, and he showed a great mastery of the score. This conductor is enjoying a remarkable career, one that has taken him to the main opera houses in recent years, and there are good reasons for it.”
José M. Irurzun, Seen and Heard International
“In the pit, Henrik Nánási finds an affinity with Rossini’s score, applying texture and detail to its mesmerising beauty and bubbly charm.”
Sam Smith, Music OMH
“Dirigé par le GMD Henrik Nánási, il montre une belle énergie, un sens des contrastes, une certaine subtilité, voire du réel raffinement à certains moments (Ach ich fühl’s…). Mais sa principale qualité, c’est la dynamique et la limpidité qui confirment le bon travail effectué par le chef sur sa formation. On ne peut que regretter son départ en fin de saison, d’autant que sur cette production, que Nánási a créée en 2012, il a fait fait preuve d’une sens du rythme, d’une précision métronomique pour être en phase avec le rythme de la vidéo. Joli travail d’artisanat d’art.”
Le Blog du Wanderer
“Conductor Henrk Nánási led with consummate style. Without ever wandering from the score, Nánási brought out details with subtly effective tempos and satisfying phrasing.”
James L. Zychowicz, Seen and Heard International