Born in 1963. Studied at the Emīlas Dārziņš Music School and then studied opera and symphony orchestra conducting at the Jāzeps Vītolas Latvian State Conservatory (now the Academy of Music) under Vasilij Sinaiskis and Rihards Glāzups. He improved his knowledge with Iļja Musins and Jurijs Simonovs. He first joined the Latvian National Opera in 1990 and is one of the most experienced conductors of this opera house. He has been working as a freelancer since 2022.

Normunds Vaicis cooperates with symphony orchestras in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Under his leadership, new works by several Latvian composers, including Pēteris Vasks, Imants Kalniņš, Artūrs Maskats and Ilona Breģe, were premiered and recorded. Many concerts conducted by Normunds Vaicis have been broadcast on Latvian Radio and Latvian Television, as well as Euro Radio.

Normunds Vaicis has participated in the Mstislav Rostropovich Cello Festival in Riga, the Verdi Opera Festival at the Estonian National Opera, the Dalhalla Festival in Sweden, as well as festivals in Finland, France and Spain. He has performed in Germany, Italy, Belgium, Poland, Russia, China and other places.