In London, Spanjaard worked as
répétiteur of the Royal Opera
Covent Garden. In 1978, he conducted the
London Philharmonic Orchestra in
Mozart's
Così fan tutte during the
Glyndebourne Festival. In 1980 and 1981 he was assistant-conductor to Herbert von Karajan at the
Salzburg Festival. For the
Bayreuth Festival in 1983, he was the assistant of Georg Solti in
Wagner's
Der Ring des Nibelungen, which laid the foundation for his work in the opera. For several years, he was principal guest conductor of the Nederlands Balletorkest and the
Limburgs Symfonie Orkest (LSO) (1982–1988), and has directed almost all Dutch orchestras. Since 1982 Spanjaard has been principal conductor of the
Nieuw Ensemble, which was awarded the
Prins Bernardfonds muziekprijs in 1998. As guest conductor Spajaard performed all over the world. In recent years he has conducted in the contemporary and classical repertoire. In the Netherlands he directed
Verdi's
Rigoletto with the
De Nederlandse Opera,
Gounod's
Faust and Verdi's
Don Carlos with the
Nederlandse Reisopera and with the Opera Zuid
Puccini's
La bohème and
Madama Butterfly as well as
Humperdinck's
Hänsel und Gretel. Also with the
Residentie Orkest and abroad (Canada) he made several opera productions. In 2000 at the
Rotterdam Ahoy he conducted the Nederlands Balletorkest in Verdi's
La traviata and
Britten's
Peter Grimes with the Nederlandse Reisopera. He premiered the chamber-operas
Wolf Cub Village and
Night Banquet by Chinese composer
Guo Wenjing with the New Ensemble. In 2004, he was invited by the
Opéra National de Lyon to conduct the opera
Pelléas et Mélissande from
Claude Debussy. During a state visit of
Queen Beatrix in 1995, Spanjaard conducted
Mahler's
Lieder aus Des Knaben Wunderhorn and
symphony No. 1 in cooperation with the
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He regularly performs with the
Ensemble intercontemporain in Paris and with the
Klangforum Wien. In 2000 he conducted the
Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt am Main, with great success which was praised by the press. In February 2002 Spanjaard took care of the musical accompaniment for the wedding of
Prince Willem-Alexander and
Máxima Zorreguieta. She was particularly moved by "
Adiós Nonino" by
Astor Piazzolla with on
bandoneon. The success of the performance led to another CD recording with the same performers, including the Concertgebouw Kamerorkest and the Nederlands Kamerkoor. In August 2001 Spanjaard was appointed chief conductor of the Limburgs Symfonie Orkest. Together with the LSO he performed
Hans Zender's composed interpretation of
Schubert's
Winterreise in September 2003 during the Musica Sacra festival in
Maastricht. This performance received praise from the national press and was considered the highlight of the festival. A CD recording of the LSO and the Nederlands Kamerkoor with compositions by
Gabriel Fauré was also highly praised. In 2009 Spanjaard conducted
Das Rheingold, of
Wagner's
Der Ring des Nibelungen with the Nederlandse Reisopera and
Orkest van het Oosten in Enschede where in 2010 he conducted
Die Walküre. In July 2016 Spanjaard was appointed chief conductor of Orkest van het Oosten starting from season 2017–2018, following . Spanjaard was appointed Professor of Orchestral Conducting at the
Amsterdam University of the Arts in September 2012. == Recordings ==