Normunds Šnē is among those Latvian conductors who are eager to urge the composers to write new opuses to be performed. All of the orchestras he initiated – the Rīga Festival Orchestra and the predecessor of Sinfonietta Rīga – the Rīga Chamber Musicians – were keen to perform the scores written in 20th and 21st centuries, in order to single out the best masterpieces and newly created opuses. Normunds Šnē has conducted the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, the Liepāja Symphony Amber Sound Orchestra and the Latvian National Opera Orchestra. He has worked with a number of internationally renowned soloists: pianists Peter Donohoe and Kristian Bezuidenhout, violinists Tatiana Grindenko, Gidon Kremer, Alina Pogostkina, Vadim Gluzman, Baiba Skride and Isabelle Faust, cellists Natalia Gutman, Mstislav Rostropovich, David Geringas and Truls Mørk, trombone soloist Christian Lindberg, percussionist Peter Erskin, jazzman Joe Zawinul and others.

Normunds Šnē was among the founders of the New Music Festival ARENA in Latvia, 2003.