From 1952 to 1956 he was Kapellmeister at the Bayerische Staatsoper and conducted operas by Mozart, Verdi and Richard Strauss in the former temporary quarters of the Prinzregententheater.
8), Anton Bruckner, Arnold Schoenberg, (1981, Gurrelieder together with the Nürnberger Symphoniker), Hans Werner Henze and Krzysztof Penderecki and conducted numerous premieres and first performances, including works by Boris Blacher, Werner Egk, Wilhelm Killmayer, György Ligeti, Aribert Reimann and Hans Zender.
With the Träume production, Gierster gave guest performances at the Wiener Festwochen, as well as in Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt; with Intollerenza 70 at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
As opera director he engaged numerous acting directors to the Nuremberg opera house, among others Hans Neuenfels (1974 for Il trovatore), Hansgünther Heyme (season 1974/75 for Wozzeck, with Dunja Vejzovic as Marie), Hans Hollmann, Hansjörg Utzerath [de], Luca Ronconi, Alfred Kirchner and Peter Mussbach [de].
After this, Gierster withdrew from the GMD office for health reasons after he had prematurely terminated his contract in August 1988.