He then began studying conducting with Christian Kluttig at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden.
Grants from the Dirigentenforum [de] of the Deutscher Musikrat (2002–2005)[1] and the foundation of David Zinman's American Academy of Conducting at Aspen complemented his training.
[2] Engel made his opera debut in 2000 with the world premiere of Benjamin Schweitzer's Jakob von Gunten at the Dresdner Tage der zeitgenössischen Musik [de].
[3] In June 2016, he conducted the Swiss premiere and third complete performance ever of Stockhausen's Donnerstag from the cycle Licht at the Theater Basel.
[11] Together with Viktor Schoner, Engel initiated the Academy Musiktheater Heute and the Ligerzer Opernwerkstatt[13] He is the editor of several books on contemporary opera.