Michalis Papapetrou was born in 1980 in Athens. He studied piano and theory at the Hellenic Conservatory, and musicology at the Music Department of the University of Athens. He pursued his studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München with B. Weil and K. v. Wildenmann where he received his diploma in orchestral conducting and Korrepetition with honours.
He has conducted the Symphony Orchestra Munich, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Bad-Reichenhall, the String Orchestra of Ingolstadt, the String Orchestra of Heilbronn, the National Greek Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of Colours, etc. He participated as pianist in productions such as 'Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta' by B.Bartók, "The Bird of Fire" by I. Stravinsky, 'The Violin' by A. Schnittke. He has worked with the Bavarian Theatre Academy as a pianist and assistant conductor and was invited by A. Devantgarde Festival of Munich to prepare the world premiere of the operas of composers P. Koeszeghy and S. Corbett (Kreatur 3 and Das Gesetz respectively). Among 217 participants in the International Competition Dimitri Mitropoulos for Conducting, he advanced to the Top 8 of the competition.
Recently he prepared the opera "Gli amanti mascherati" of Niccoló Piccinni, which was recorded and presented in Dortmund Germany in world premiere. He has worked with the European Opera Centre and with many soloists of the National Greek Opera. In December 2012, he presented at the Michael Cacoyannis Theatre the highly successful operetta of N. Chatziapostolou 'The Apaches of Athens' on his own orchestration and conducting. Finally, he collaborated with Giorgos Petrou and Armonia Atenea for the opera by G. F. Händel "Alessandro", presented at the Athens Concert Hall and in other European theatres.