He began his musical education at the Béla Bartók Conservatory in Budapest, studying piano and composition before continuing his education at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where he studied orchestral conducting, correpetition, and composition between 1993 and 2000. Henrik Nánási came to the Klagenfurt City Theatre in 1999 as a solo-repetiteur, before becoming the First Conductor. From 2005 to 2007, he was First Conductor at the Augsburg Theatre, and from 2007 to 2010, he was made First Conductor and temporary Head Conductor of the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich.

Henrik Nánási’s most recent successes include the musical direction of Verdi’s I masnadieri and Chabrier’s L´Étoile at the Frankfurt Opera; the new productions of Dvořák’s Rusalka and Lehár’s The Merry Widow at the Volksoper Vienna, as well as his debut at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich with La Traviata.

As per 2012 Nánási has been appointed General Music Director of the Komische Oper Berlin. Since his debut with L’italiana in Algeri on the Semperoper Dresden in 2010, he has been the musical director of La bohème, La traviata, Madame Butterfly and La cenerentola.