Michael Schønwandt made his debut as a conductor with Verdi’s A Masked Ball in 1979 at The Royal Theatre, and has had a strong connection with it ever since, first as kapellmeister, and later as royal kapellmeister.

From 2000 to 2011, he was head of music and chief conductor of The Royal Danish Orchestra during an important period in its history, with the planning of a new opera house, which officially opened in January 2005. He has conducted many hundreds of performances of operas and ballets, including a whole series of new stagings and original performances. He conducted the opening gala of the Copenhagen Opera House in 2005, and memorable performances there include Wagner’s Ring cycle, and Richard Strauss’s Elektra and Die Frau ohne Schatten. In spring 2019, Michael Schønwandt celebrated his 40th anniversary as a conductor by conducting performances of Heise’s Drot og Marsk (‘King and Marshal’) with The Royal Danish Orchestra at the Royal Danish Theatre. In September 2023, Michael Schønwandt was made an honorary member of The Royal Danish Orchestra.

In addition to his work with the Royal Theatre, Michael Schønwandt has had an important international career within opera and the orchestral world. He has conducted performances at the Wiener Staatsoper, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London, the Bayreuth Festival, as well as at opera houses in Paris, Brussels, Stuttgart, Berlin and Hamburg. He has been chief conductor of the Berliner Symphoniker and artistic leader of Dutch Radio’s Kammer in Amsterdam. From 2015 until 2023, Schønwandt was chief conductor of the Opéra et Orchestre National de Montpellier in France, and at the end of his period there he was made an honorary citizen of Montpellier. He has a large discography and has recorded all of Nielsen’s symphonies and completed a DVD recording of Wagner’s Ring cycle. In 2009, the latter was awarded ‘DVD of the Year’ by Gramophone magazine. Michael Schønwandt is one of Denmark’s most sought-after interpreters of Carl Nielsen’s music. In 2011, he was made a Commander of the Order of Dannebrog.