Manuel Nawri was born in Überlingen. He completed his studies at the conservatories in Freiburg and Odessa. He was also a scholarship holder at the renowned International Ensemble Modern Academy and at the Tanglewood Music Festival and assisted Péter Eötvös at the Schwetzingen Festival, among others.
Since then he has worked with renowned orchestras such as the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, the WDR and SWR symphony orchestras, the Deutsche Radiophilharmonie Saarbrücken, the Basque National Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Basel Sinfonietta, Bochumer Symphoniker, Zürcher Singakademie and the Ukrainian Radio Choir as well as Ensemble Modern, Ensemble MusikFabrik, the Australian Elision Ensemble and the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble.
He also directs opera performances at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Theater Essen, Schauspielhaus Frankfurt and Staatstheater Saarbrücken and at the National Theatre Taichung, as well as freelance productions in Melbourne, Brisbane, Moscow, Hong Kong, Basel and Paris. Since 2013 Manuel Nawri has been musical director of the 'New Scenes' at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
He is a guest at festivals such as Salzburg Biennale, Warsaw Autumn, Festival d' ́automne Paris, eclat, Israel Festival, Melbourne International Festival and Tchechov Festival Moscow.
His extensive discography includes CD recordings with the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, WDR Sinfonie-Orchester, ensemble musikFabrik and Ensemble Modern. His recording of clarinet concertos with Kinan Azmeh and the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin was awarded an Opus Klassik 2019. The complete recording of Berio's "Chemins" with the WDR Symphony Orchestra made the Best List of the German Record Critics' Prize 2020.
He shares his experience and joy of music in projects with state and national youth orchestras and since 2008 as a professor at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" Berlin and since 2018 also at the Hochschule für Musik Saar in Saarbrücken.