Niels Nuijten

Niels Nuijten has been a dramaturg at Dutch National Opera and joint artistic leader of the Opera Forward Festival since 2023. After studying jazz saxophone at the conservatoire in Tilburg and Spanish language and culture at the University of Barcelona, he graduated in dramaturgy from the University of Amsterdam in 2017. He also obtained a minor in music studies. He has previously worked for La Monnaie, Opera Vlaanderen and Theater Basel. As a freelance dramaturg, he has collaborated with directors including Lisenka Heijboer Castañón, Barbora Horáková and Christof Loy. Theory of Flames (2026) was his third collaboration with Michel van der Aa, after Eight (2019) and Upload (2021).