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. His great passion is making the new sound familiar and the familiar sound new.
Since 2016 Ingo Metzmacher has been the artistic director of the KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen. From 2007 to 2010 he was artistic director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin; previously 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.
He works regularly with prestigious orchestras such as the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, The Cleveland Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Ensemble Modern.
Highlights of the 2024/25 season included his fifth tour with the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, the world premiere of Haas’s … heraus in Luft und Licht … with Klangforum Wien in the Vienna Konzerthaus, and performances with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica de RTVE, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the SWR Symphony Orchestra, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Czech Philharmonic and its youth orchestra as part of the Dvořák Festival in Prague.
He regularly appears as a guest at renowned opera houses and at international festivals. His acclaimed appearances at the Salzburg Festival have included Rihm’s Die Eroberung von Mexico, Enescu’s Œdipe, Nono’s Intolleranza 1960 and Verdi’s Falstaff. He conducted the world premiere of Johannes Maria Staud’s Die Weiden at the Vienna State Opera, along with new productions of Salome at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Œdipe and Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District at the Paris Opéra and Braunfels’s Die Vögel at the Bavarian State Opera. In April 2025 he has conducted the world premiere of Francesco Filidei’s Il nome della rosa at La Scala, Milan.
His extensive discography includes recordings of his legendary Hamburg New Year’s Eve concerts from 1999 to 2004 under the title Who is Afraid of 20th-Century Music?, a complete recording of Hartmann’s symphonies with the Bamberg Symphony, the world premiere of Henze’s Ninth Symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic and Messiaen’s Éclairs sur l’Au-delà… Most recently he has recorded Mark Andre’s cycle riss and the album Beschenkt with Ensemble Modern.
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).
