Since his success at the ARD Competition in 1986, Reinhold Friedrich has appeared on all the world's major stages. He performs worldwide as a soloist with modern and historical trumpet with numerous renowned orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam, the Bamberg and Vienna Symphonies, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Baroque Soloists and the Cappella Andrea Barca under the direction of conductors such as Sir András Schiff, Reinhard Goebel, Semyon Bychkov, Peter Eötvös, Andris Nelsons, Philippe Herreweghe, Manfred Honeck and Sir George Benjamin.
From 1983 to 1999, Reinhold Friedrich was principal trumpet player of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. He is permanent principal trumpet player of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and artistic director of Lucerne Festival Orchestra Brass. Reinhold Friedrich is professor at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe, honorary professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid, as well as a sought-after lecturer for master classes worldwide.
As part of his engagement with 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 CD recordings on labels such as DG, Capriccio, ARS, MDG and Sony, some of which have been awarded prestigious prizes (Echo Klassik, Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik), document his multifaceted oeuvre.