Michael Sanderling held the position of Principal Conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic for eight seasons (2011-2019). During his tenure with the orchestra, Michael Sanderling recorded the complete symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven and Dmitri Shostakovich for Sony Classical. Of the pairing of Beethoven’s third symphony with Shostakovich’s tenth, MusicWeb International wrote "Characteristically stylish and entirely compelling under Michael Sanderling, the Dresdner Philharmonie demonstrates its prowess in these Beethoven and Shostakovich masterworks.” 
Michael Sanderling  is in high demand as a guest conductor and highlights of 2018/19 and 2019/20 include Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Louis Andriessen’s Mysteriën and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 3), Orchestre de Paris (with whom he conducts Frank Martin’s Six Monologues of Jedermann with Matthias Goerne and Liszt’s Dante Symphony), Berlin Philharmonic (Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 2 and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7), Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra,  Prague Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester (both at home and on tour to Korea), St Petersburg Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, NDR Elbphilharmonie, and Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. He also appears regularly with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Munich Philharmonic, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, and the German Radio Symphony Orchestras of WDR and SWR.
As an opera conductor, he enjoyed success with Philip Glass’ The Fall of the House of Usher in Potsdam, and with a new production of Sergei Prokofiev’s War and Peace at Cologne Opera. His discography includes recordings of important works by Dvořák, Schumann, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and Tchaikovsky amongst others, both as cellist and as conductor. In 2020, he conducts Oper Frankfurt’s festive production of Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel. 
One of Michael Sanderling’s passions is working with young musicians. He teaches at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt/Main, and regularly works with the Bundesjugendorchester (National Youth Orchestra of Germany), the Young Philharmonic Orchestra Jerusalem Weimar, the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and the Schleswig-Holstein-Festivalorchester. From 2003 to 2013, he was the Principal Conductor of the Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie.