Ingo Metzmacher

Conductor, pianist, and festival director Ingo Metzmacher has a broad repertory but is best known for his work in 20th and 21st century opera and orchestral music. Indeed, in the early 2000s decade, he issued four volumes in a series titled Who's Afraid of 20th Century Music?, and he has given the world premieres of several major contemporary operas and orchestral works. Metzmacher is also active as a collaborative pianist, accompanying several of Germany's most prominent singers. His recording catalog of more than 50 albums includes Igor Strawinski: Symphonien für Blasinstrumente; Agon; Variationen 'Aldous Huxley in Memoriam'; Symphonie in C (2024). Metzmacher was born in Hannover, West Germany, on November 10, 1957. His father was the prominent cellist Rudolf Metzmacher. Ingo Metzmacher started out as a pianist but also studied theory and conducting while still living in his hometown, going on for further studies in Cologne and Salzburg, Austria. In 1980, he joined the Frankfurt-based Ensemble Modern as a pianist, and in 1985, he took over as conductor of that group. Metzmacher began to gain international attention after conducting a production of Franz Schreker's opera Der ferne Klang at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels in 1988. He made his recording debut in 1994 with Ensemble Modern, leading a performance of the Requiem mass of Hans Werner Henze. That year, he also led the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra in a performance of a revised version of Henze's Symphony No. 6. In 1997, Metzmacher became music director of the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra and the Hamburg Opera. He was noted there for conducting operas, including Wagner's Lohengrin, Weber's Der Freischütz, and Berg's Wozzeck; he led the latter work on a 1999 recording for the EMI label. In 2005, he left Hamburg for a post at De Nederlandse Opera (now the Dutch National Opera) in Amsterdam, serving there until 2008. Metzmacher then moved to the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin; he was under contract until 2011 but departed early after budget disputes. Metzmacher has remained in demand as a guest conductor. At the Salzburg Festival in Austria, he led the world premieres of two major 21st century operas, Luigi Nono's Al gran sole carico d'amore (2009) and Wolfgang Rihm's Dionysos (2010). Metzmacher has also led performances of a wide range of 20th century instrumental works, from Charles Ives to Schoenberg and Webern to John Cage. He has particularly specialized in the music of 20th century German symphonist Karl Amadeus Hartmann, whose complete symphonies he has recorded. Metzmacher has appeared with such major ensembles as the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. As a pianist, he has accompanied the likes of baritone Matthias Goerne, soprano Christine Schäfer, and bass-baritone Christian Gerhaher. As of the mid-2020s, his recording catalog numbered more than 50 items, including a collection of late Stravinsky works with the SWR Symphonieorchester in 2024. Metzmacher is the author of two books, Keine Angst vor neuen Töne ("No Fear of New Music") and Vorhang Auf! ~ James Manheim