[1] He first worked as a primary school teacher, and then began his studies of voice at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover with Naan Põld in 1964.
[1] Schöne appeared regularly at the Salzburg Festival where his roles included Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (1985–1987, 1990) and Alidoro in Rossini's La Cenerentola (1988–1989).
[7] Schöne was a guest at the Semperoper in Dresden in 1999 as Barak in Die Frau ohne Schatten by Richard Strauss and in 2000 in the title role of Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer.
[10] Schöne took part in world premiered, of Josef Tal's Die Versuchung in 1976 at the Bavarian State Opera, and in Hermann Reutter's Hamlet in 1980 in Stuttgart;[1] he created the role of Tom, Minette's lover in Henze's Die englische Katze, with Inga Nielsen as Minette, at the Schwetzingen Festival in 1983,[1][11] and the leading role of K. in Aribert Reimann's Das Schloß in 1992 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
[1] Schöne performed at international opera houses, as Dr. Schön in Berg's Lulu in 1996 at the Glyndebourne Festival and in 1998 at the Opéra Bastille, as Barak in Die Frau ohne Schatten in 2000 at the Liceu in Barcelona, and as Amfortas in Wagner's Parsifal in 2003 and 2004 at La Fenice in Venice.