Born in Hanover, Ingo Metzmacher studied piano, music theory, and conducting in his hometown, as well as in Salzburg and Cologne. He found his first artistic home in Frankfurt with the Ensemble Modern and at the Oper Frankfurt under the artistic directorship of Michael Gielen. His international career began in 1988, during Gerard Mortier’s tenure as director of the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, when he stepped in to conduct a new production of Schreker’s Der ferne Klang.
From 1997 to 2005, he was General Music Director of the Staatsoper Hamburg, where he led a series of internationally acclaimed productions, many of them in collaboration with stage director Peter Konwitschny. Subsequently, he was named Chief Conductor of the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam. Highlights of his tenure there include performances of the three Mozart-Da Ponte operas, Henze’s The Bassarids, Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt, Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten, and Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise.
From 2007 to 2010, Metzmacher was Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, where his innovative thematic concert cycles – among them From the German Soul, Breakthrough 1909, and Temptation, as well as a new series titled Casual Concerts – made a lasting impact on the city’s musical life. Various tours led him and the orchestra throughout Europe and Asia.
Ingo Metzmacher has led productions at many of the great international opera houses and festivals such as the Wiener Staatsoper, the Opéra national de Paris, Milan's Teatro alla Scala, Madrid’s Teatro Real, Opernhaus Zürich, the Salzburger Festspiele, and the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence. Highlights of recent seasons include new productions of Rihm’s Die Eroberung von Mexico, Enescu’s Œdipe, Nono’s Intolleranza 1960, and Verdi’s Falstaff in Salzburg, Strauss‘ Salome in Aix-en-Provence, Enescu’s Œdipe and Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk in Paris, Braunfels’ Die Vögel at the Bayerische Staatsoper, and, most recently, Magnard's Guercœur at the Opéra national du Rhin.
He has conducted leading orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Czech Philharmonic, Russian National Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre de Paris, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Helsinki Philharmonic, among others.
The 2024/25 season brings his fifth tour with the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and performances with the Gewandhausorchester, Orquesta Sinfónica de RTVE, Wiener Symphoniker, SWR Symphonieorchester, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, and the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra. He will lead the world premieres of Francesco Filidei’s Il nome della rosa at Teatro alla Scala and Georg Friedrich Haas’ …heraus in Luft und Licht… with Klangforum Wien, as well as concerts with the Czech Philharmonic and the Czech Philharmonic Youth Orchestra as part of the Dvořák Prague Festival. In May and June 2025, he will present the tenth and final edition of the KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen under his artistic direction.
Metzmacher’s wide-ranging discography includes live recordings of his legendary New Year’s Eve concerts in Hamburg from 1999 to 2004 entitled Who’s Afraid of 20th Century Music?, a complete recording of Hartmann’s symphonies with the Bamberger Symphoniker, the world premiere of Henze’s Ninth Symphony with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Olivier Messiaen’s Eclairs sur l'Au-delà… with the Wiener Philharmoniker, Pfitzner’s Von deutscher Seele, and Humperdinck’s Königskinder with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, as well as live recordings of Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mzensk at the Wiener Staatsoper and Nono’s Prometeo at the Salzburger Festspiele. Most recently, he released two recordings with Ensemble Modern: Mark Andre’s cycle riss and Beschenkt – 40 miniatures celebrating the ensemble's 40th anniversary.
In his book Vorhang auf! Oper entdecken und erleben [Curtain Up! Discovering and Experiencing Opera], published in 2009, Metzmacher presents operas from four centuries and explains the making of a music theatre production. He is also the author of Keine Angst vor neuen Tönen [Don’t Be Afraid of New Sounds], published in 2005, a passionate plea for pioneering composers such as Luigi Nono, Charles Ives, Olivier Messiaen, Arnold Schönberg, Edgard Varèse, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and John Cage.
As a pianist, he has appeared in recitals with Christine Schäfer, Christian Gerhaher, Matthias Goerne, and Georg Nigl at the Aspen Music Festival, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, the Salzburger Festspiele, and the KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen.