Studied in Hannover and Hamburg. He began his career as a concert-singer, but soon entered the opera stage as well. Schöne’s long cooperation with the State Opera of Stuttgart began in 1973 and in 1978 he was awarded the title of Kammmersänger in acknowledgement of his artistic achievements.
He has performed with leading orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, London Philharmonic and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam.
He has sung under the direction of leading conductors such as Georg Solti, Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim, Rafael Kubelik, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Jeffrey Tate, Riccardo Chailly, Sir Simon Rattle, Christian Thielemann, Sir Andrew Davies, and Kent Nagano. He is a regular guest at the opera houses of Dresden, Bologna, Cologne, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Geneva, Paris, and Berlin.
He had a triumphant success in Stuttgart in the role of the Wanderer in Jossi Wieler’s production of Siegfried. Recent successful performances include the title part in Hans Heiling in Berlin, Gyges (König Kandaules by Zemlinsky) at the Salzburg Festival, Moses (Moses und Aron) in Stuttgart as well as Hans Sachs (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) in Hamburg and Essen.
His extensive concert repertoire includes: Bach’s Passions and cantatas, Bruch’s Odysseus, Handel’s Messiah, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Haydn’s The Creation, Martin’s Sechs Monologe aus dem „Jedermann“, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Paulus, Shostakovitch’s Symphony No. 14, Zemlinsky’s Lyrische Sinfonie Op. 18, his song repertoire includes Lieder by Schubert, Schumann and Beethoven.
Engagements for 2008 cover the roles of: Marquis de la Force (Dialogues des Carmelites, Hamburg State Opera), Dr. Schön (Lulu, Lyric Opera of Chicago) to name just a few.