Ingo Metzmacher

The work of the conductor Ingo Metzmacher is characterized by his consistent dedication to music of the 20th and 21st centuries, and by his innovative programming. To make the new sound familiar and the familiar sound new has been his great passion since the start of his varied career.

Since 2016 Ingo Metzmacher has been the artistic director of the KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen. From 2007 to 2010 he was chief conductor and artistic director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, from 2005 to 2007 he was chief conductor at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam and from 1997 to 2005 he was general music director at the Hamburg State Opera.

In recent years Ingo Metzmacher has inspired audiences as the conductor of Salzburg Festival’s productions of Rihm’s Die Eroberung von Mexico, Enescu’s Œdipe and Nono’s Intolleranza 1960. He conducted the world premiere of Johannes Maria Staud’s Die Weiden at the Vienna State Opera, along with new productions of Strauss’s Salome at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Œdipe and Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District at the Paris Opéra and Braunfels’s Die Vögel at the Bavarian State Opera. He has also conducted numerous concerts with leading orchestras, among them the Cleveland Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Ensemble Modern. Highlights of his conducting projects at the KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen have included Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder, Heiner Goebbels’s Surrogate Cities, Berlioz’s Requiem and the world premiere of Mark Andre’s rwh 1–4.

Ingo Metzmacher is a regular guest at the great international opera houses, among them the Vienna State Opera, the Paris Opéra, La Scala, Milan, the Teatro Real in Madrid and the Zurich Opera House. He also appears with leading orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic, the Russian National Orchestra, the St Petersburg Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Ingo Metzmacher’s extensive discography includes live recordings of his legendary Hamburg New Year concerts under the title Who Is Afraid of 20th Century Music?, a complete recording of Hartmann’s symphonies with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, a live recording of the world premiere of Henze’s Ninth Symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic and Messiaen’s Éclairs sur l’Au-delà… with the Vienna Philharmonic. Most recently he has recorded two CDs with the Ensemble Modern: Mark Andre’s cycle riss and the album Beschenkt, containing 40 miniatures to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the ensemble.

Ingo Metzmacher is the author of the books Keine Angst vor neuen Tönen (Don’t Be Afraid of New Sounds) and Vorhang auf! Oper entdecken und erleben (Curtain Up! Discovering and Experiencing Opera).