She completed her master's degree in musicology, history and German studies at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and Technische Universität Berlin.
After completing her doctorate in 1995 at Technische Universität Berlin (Summa cum laude), she worked at the State Institute for Music Research (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation Berlin); in 1996 she joined the DFG-Project Music in Exile 1933-1949: Pilot Project California at the Folkwang University of the Arts as a research assistant in Essen (cond.
Ihre Publikationen enthalten neben Grundlagenforschung zum Exil von Musikern während des Nationalsozialismus (Quellen zur Geschichte emigrierter Musiker 1933–1950, Band 1 Kalifornien, edited with Horst Weber)[2] and letter editions (correspondence with Hermann Pfrogner [de] and Hans Heinrich Engel) including research on the reception of Richard Wagner's work in France, the relationship between music and politics in occupied France 1940–1944, the history and culture of European music therapy in the 19th and 20th centuries, and biographical studies on individual personalities (Vincent d’Indy, Heinrich Strobel and Conrad Ansorge).
Since 2021, she has been an honorary professor at the University of Montreal (Université de Montréal) in Quebec (Canada) and Dean of the Department of Social Work, Health and Media.
Since May 2022, Manuela Schwartz is the project leader of the German Jordanian University (GJU)http://www.gju.edu.jo/content/about-gju-687 under the governance of the DAAD and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.