Tenor Maximilian Schmitt discovered his love for music at a young age as a member of the Regensburger Domspatzen choir. He completed his vocal studies with Prof. Anke Eggers at the Berlin University of the Arts, later studying privately with Roland Hermann, and he currently works with Tobias Truniger. Maximilian Schmitt gained his first stage experience as a member of the Munich Opera Studio before joining the ensemble of the Mannheim National Theater for four years starting in 2008. During this time, he took on numerous significant roles within his repertoire. In 2012, he made his debut at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam as Tamino under the direction of Marc Albrecht. In 2016, he impressed audiences for the first time as Idomeneo in another major Mozart role at the Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg. He then debuted at the Vienna State Opera as Don Ottavio. In 2017, he appeared at La Scala in Milan, debuting as Pedrillo in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail under the baton of Zubin Mehta. In 2019, he took on the role of Max in Weber's Der Freischütz for the first time at the Aalto Theater in Essen. In 2022, he made his debut as Erik in Wagner's The Flying Dutchman at the Graz Opera, followed by performances in the same role at the Cologne Opera and at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris under the direction of François Xavier Roth in 2023. In the past season, Maximilian Schmitt debuted as Siegmund in Richard Wagner's Die Walküre with Concerto Köln under the direction of Kent Nagano.

Maximilian Schmitt regularly performs on major international concert stages. His broad repertoire ranges from Monteverdi, Bach, and Mozart to Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Elgar, Mahler, Zender, and Britten. He has been invited by renowned conductors such as Franz Welser-Möst, Claudio Abbado, Kirill Petrenko, Teodor Currentzis, Daniel Harding, Jakub Hrůša, Jonathan Nott, Manfred Honeck, Philippe Herreweghe, Thomas Hengelbrock, Fabio Luisi, Trevor Pinnock, René Jacobs, and Robin Ticciati. He has collaborated with prestigious orchestras such as the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the MDR Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Academy for Ancient Music, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and the Vienna Philharmonic. Maximilian Schmitt is also a regular guest of the Orchestre de Paris and the Orchestre National de France.

The 2024/25 season begins for Maximilian Schmitt with a semi-staged performance of Beethoven's Fidelio in Madrid, where he will be heard as Florestan. He will then perform the role of Max in Weber's Der Freischütz at both the Hamburg State Opera and the Dresden Semperoper. On the concert stage, he will be featured in Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius in Osaka. Additionally, he will perform the tenor part in Beethoven's 9th Symphony in Valencia, Munich, Regensburg, and Antwerp. At the Vienna Musikverein, Maximilian Schmitt will participate in a performance of Mahler's 8th Symphony. He will take on the tenor part in Arnold Schoenberg's Gurrelieder with the Duisburg Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Axel Kober. He will also appear with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Patrick Hahn in a performance of Shostakovich's rarely heard song cycle From Jewish Folk Poetry.

Together with pianist Gerold Huber, Maximilian Schmitt has performed various song programs at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Heidelberg Spring Festival, the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, the Cologne Philharmonie, London's Wigmore Hall, the Düsseldorf Tonhalle, and in Santiago de Compostela.

Maximilian Schmitt has an extensive discography, including his solo albums Träumend wandle ich bei Tag, Die schöne Müllerin, and Wie freundlich strahlt der Tag. He is also featured on numerous other CD releases, including as Belmonte in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail with the Berlin Academy for Ancient Music under the direction of René Jacobs (Harmonia Mundi) and soon as Siegmund in Die Walküre with Concerto Köln under Kent Nagano.