Nikolaas Schmeer
Freelance Conductor | 2nd degree
Nikolaas Schmeer is a young, versatile conductor. He has served as artistic director of the Thuringia State Youth Choir since August 2023 and has been a fellow of the German Music Council’s Forum for Conductors since April of that same year. In 2025, he was accepted into the second level of the fellowship program. Since August 2026, he has been the artistic director of the Leipzig Youth Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he will be working as an instructor in choral conducting and rehearsal methodology at the Music Academy in Rheinsberg.
Nikolaas Schmeer studied choral and orchestral conducting at the “Franz Liszt” University of Music in Weimar under Jürgen Puschbeck, Nicolás Pasquet, and Ekhart Wycik. He completed his studies with his opera debut.
Nikolaas Schmeer gained valuable musical experience as an assistant at the German National Theater in Weimar, with the Saxony State Youth Orchestra, with the Symphony Orchestra of the University of Music in Weimar, and at the Summer Music Academy at Hundisburg Castle. He has already collaborated with renowned conductors such as Dominik Beykirch, Ole Kristian Ruud, Howard Arman, Justin Doyle, Simon Gaudenz, Ekkehard Klemm, Friedrich Praetorius, and Franziska Kuba.
His concert and conducting activities have taken him, among other places, to the MDR Musiksommer, the Clara Schumann Philharmonic Orchestra of Plauen-Zwickau, the Thuringia Philharmonic Orchestra of Gotha-Eisenach, the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Weimar, the symphony orchestras of Karlovy Vary (CZ) and Teplice (CZ), the State Youth Orchestras of Saxony and Thuringia, the WDR Radio Choir, and the opera choirs at the Munich State Opera, in Heidelberg, Meiningen, and Essen, the chamber choirs of the music conservatories in Weimar and Cologne, and the state youth choirs from Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Hesse, and Thuringia.
His tireless dedication to supporting young musicians led to the founding of the vocal ensemble “Re.Frain,” which has since been performing successfully throughout Central Germany.
