Gastdirigent

Koen Schoots

Conductor, arranger and orchestrator Koen Schoots was born and educated in the Netherlands. His work spans the worlds of classical and popular music. After finishing his studies in conducting, piano and voice at the Conservatory of Maastricht in 1984 he worked as a conductor and coach for the theaters in Linz, Klagenfurt and Gelsenkirchen. From 1992 he extended his repertoire and work field by becoming musical director for various commercial musical theaters, such as »Cats« and the »Buddy Holly Story« (both in Hamburg) as well as »Jekyll & Hyde« (European Premiere) in Bremen and Cologne while still maintaining to work as a conductor with classical repertoire. As such, from 2003 to 2005 he worked as a conductor for the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf and Duisburg.

From 2004 to 2010 he served as chief conductor for the Opernfestpiele St. Margarethen (Austria). He established close relationships with the Komische Oper Berlin and Barrie Kosky (in 2004) and Konzert und Theater St. Gallen (2005) that continue to this day. For the Komische Oper he worked as musical director for »Sweeney Todd«, »Kiss me, Kate«, »West Side Story«, »Fiddler on the Roof«, »La Cage aux Folles« as well as the children’s opera »Die Zaubermelodika« and the operettas »Im weißen Rössl«, »Die Blume von Hawaii« and »Marinka«. In St. Gallen he conducted and supervised numerous productions like »Les Misérables«, »Hello, Dolly!«, »Rebecca« and the world premiere productions of »Dracula« (2005), »The Count of Monte Christo« (2009), »Artus ‒ Excalibur« (2014), »Don Camillo and Peppone« (2016), »Matterhorn« (2018), »Wüstenblume« (2020) and »Lady Bess« (2022).

From 2010 to 2018 he was music director musical for the Vereinigte Bühnen in Vienna, the most prestigious musical theater company in the German speaking territory with two theaters and an orchestra of 84. He conducted all musical premieres, such as »Tanz der Vampire«, »Sister Act«, »Elisabeth«, »Mozart!«, »Legally Blonde«, »Mary Poppins«, Mamma Mia!«, »Evita«, »Schikaneder« (world premiere) as well as concert productions of »Jesus Christ Superstar«, »The Phantom of the Opera«, »Love Never Dies«, »Messiah Rocks« and numerous galas and other events. He also conducted the Japanese tour of »Elisabeth« in Osaka and Tokyo.

For Broadway composer Frank Wildhorn, he serves as arranger, orchestrator, musical supervisor and conductor in Europe and Asia. In this capacity he conducted the world premieres of »Dracula« (St. Gallen) »Rudolf ‒ Affaire Mayerling« (Budapest, Vienna, Tokyo, Seoul), »The Count of Monte Christo« (St. Gallen, Seoul), »Artus ‒ Excalibur« (St. Gallen and revised in Seoul), »Carmen« (Prague) as well as the world premiere of the »Donau Symphony« with the Wiener Symphoniker at the Musikverein in Vienna.