Since his success at the ARD Competition in 1986, Reinhold Friedrich has been playing on the world's most important stages. He performs worldwide as a soloist on the modern and historical trumpet with numerous renowned orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw, the Bamberger and Wiener Symphoniker, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Berliner Barock Solisten and the Cappella Andrea Barca under the direction of Sir Andras Schiff, Reinhard Goebel, Seymon Bychkov, Peter Eötvös, Andris Nelsons, Philippe Herreweghe, Manfred Honeck, Sir George Benjamin and many others.

Since the foundation of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra in 2003, he has been permanent principal trumpet, first under Claudio Abbado, and now under Riccardo Chailly, as well as artistic director of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra Brass. Reinhold Friedrich is professor of trumpet at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe and honorary professor at the Escuela Superior de Musica REINA SOFIA in Madrid.

As part of his involvement in contemporary compositions, he has premiered a large number of works by Wolfgang Rihm, Hans Werner Henze, Luciano Berio, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Matthias Pintscher, Eino Tamberg, Benjamin Yusopov and Peter Eötvös, among others. Numerous recordings for labels such as ARS, DG, Capriccio, MDG, and Sony document his work and were awarded prestigious prizes such as Echo Klassik and Deutscher Schallplattenpreis.

His most recent production is the recording of Igor Stravinsky's L'histoire du Soldat on period instruments (with Isabelle Faust and Dominique Horwitz, among others) with concerts at Wigmore Hall, London and in numerous European cities.

Due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, many outstanding concerts were cancelled, including his debut at the Elbphilharmonie (concerto by Bernd Alois Zimmermann), as well as performances with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and at the Handel Festival Halle with Nuria Rial.

Photo credit: Cyrus Allyar