Arranger, orchestrator and conductor Koen Schoots was born and educated in the Netherlands. His work spans the worlds of opera and musical theater. Trained as an opera conductor he worked at various opera houses in Europe and in the United States and conducted more than 50 operas. In 1992 he was appointed musical director for the German production of CATS in Hamburg, which marked the beginning of his musical theater career. He established a close collaboration with Frank Wildhorn in 1995, in preparations for the European Premiere of JEKYLL & HYDE in Bremen, Germany. Since then, he has served as Frank’s Musical Supervisor and conducted the European Openings of THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL as well as DRACULA and the World Premieres of RUDOLF in Budapest, Hungary, THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO and ARTUS, EXCALIBUR in Switzerland. Since his work on RUDOLF, he also serves as Arranger/Orchestrator for Frank’s new shows. He provided arrangements and additional orchestrations for RUDOLF (Budapest, Tokyo, Vienna, Seoul) as well as new arrangements and orchestrations for DRACULA (Graz, Austria, Tokyo, now licensed worldwide), CARMEN, VIVA AMOR! (Prague) THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO (Switzerland, Tokyo, Seoul) as well as EXCALIBUR (Switzerland). From 2003 to 2005 he worked as an opera conductor at the Düsseldorf Opera House. In 2004 his standing collaboration with the Komische Oper in Berlin was initiated. To this day he conducts on a regular basis and has done new productions of SWEENEY TODD, KISS ME, KATE as well as WEST SIDE STORY. From 2004 through 2010 he was the chief conductor of the annual Open Air Opera Festival in St. Margarethen, Austria. He conducted AIDA, CARMEN, NABUCCO, LA TRAVIATA, RIGOLETTO as well as the DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE. In 2010 he was appointed Musical Director and Chief Conductor for Vereinigte Bühnen in Vienna (VBW), the most prestigious musical theater company in the German speaking territory with an 82 people orchestra and 2 shows running simultaneously. Here among others he served as MD for TANZ DER VAMPIRE, SISTER ACT, ELISABETH, LEGALLY BLONDE, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, LOVE NEVER DIES, MAMMA MIA!, MARY POPPINS , JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, EVITA, MOZART! as well as the world premiere of the Stephen Schwartz musical SCHIKANEDER for which he also provided vocal arrangements. For DON CAMILLO & PEPPONE by Michael Kunze and Dario Farina he provided arrangements and orchestrations. In his capacity as chief conductor of VBW he also serves as Musical Supervisor for VBW’s licensed productions worldwide. As of October 1st, 2017 Koen will return to his career as free lance conductor and orchestrator again. Upcoming projects include a new production of ANATEVKA (FIDDLER ON TE ROOF) at the Komische Oper Berlin as well as concerts with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. Koen will also provide arrangements and musical supervision for the new musical by Michael Kunze and Albert Hammond: MATTERHORN which will have its world premiere in February of 2018 in St. Gallen, Switzerland.
