Nikolaus Lehnhoff was born in Germany. He worked as an assistant for Deutsche Oper Berlin and at Bayreuth with Wieland Wagner, and for the Metropolitan Opera. He made his directing debut with Die Frau ohne Schatten (R. Strauss) in Paris. He directed Kát’a Kabanová, Jenůfa and The Makropulos Case (Janacek), The Bartered Bride (Smetana) and Tristan und Isolde (Wagner) in Glyndbourne, Fidelio (Beethoven) in Bremen, Salzburg and Bonn, Elektra (R. Strauss) in Chicago and Leipzig, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Wagner) at La Scala, Salome (R. Strauss) at the Metropolitan Opera and in Leipzig, Don Giovanni (Mozart) in Toronto, Der Ring des Nibelungen (Wagner) in San Francisco and Munich, Idomeneo (Mozart) in Salzburg, Parsifal (Wagner) at ENO, San Francisco, Baden-Baden, Barcelona and Chicago, Boulevard Solitude (Henze) and Palestrina (Pfizner) at the Royal  Opera House Covent Garden, Turandot and Tosca (Puccini) in Amsterdam and many other productions.

At the Israeli Opera he directed:
Jenufa (2012)
Fidelio (2005)