Ingo Metzmacher's innovative programs and his passionate commitment to the music of the 20th century have firmly established him as a leading international conductor. Beginning in September 2007, Mr. Metzmacher becomes the new Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester (DSO) Berlin. His first season comprises characteristically thought-provoking and illuminating programs as well as acclaimed soloists and guest-conductors. An accomplished pianist, he will perform Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time" with members of the DSO in the 2007-08 season. Mr. Metzmacher is also chief conductor of the Netherlands Opera.
Born in Hanover in 1957, Ingo Metzmacher studied piano, music theory and conducting in Hanover, Salzburg and Cologne. He found his first artistic home at the Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt, initially as a pianist and later as a conductor. His breakthrough came in 1988 when he stepped in to conduct the premiere of Schreker's opera Der ferne Klang in Brussels. In 1997 he was appointed General Music Director of the Hamburg Opera where he conducted a whole series of internationally acclaimed productions over a period of eight seasons. His collaboration with director Peter Konwitschny consistently produced particularly notable successes in the course of his tenure ... read full bio
Ingo Metzmacher's innovative programs and his passionate commitment to the music of the 20th century have firmly established him as one of the leading international conductor's of his generation. In September 2007, Ingo Metzmacher became the new Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. His first season comprises characteristically thought-provoking and illuminating programs, and features a number of acclaimed soloists and guest-conductors. One of his first programs pairs Strauss's Ein Heldenleben with Varèse's epic Amériques. Other include Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri, Kurt Weill's Der Silbersee and a program made up of Weber's Overture to Oberon, Henze's Symphony No. 8 and Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream. An accomplished pianist, Mr. Metzmacher will also perform Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time with members of the DSO.
He is currently Principal Conductor of the Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam, where he has conducted Henze's Die Bassariden, directed by Peter Stein, and productions of The Cunning Little Vixen, Simon Boccanegra and Elektra, among others. Highlights of the 2006-07 season included the Mozart/Da Ponte project in which he conducted Così fan tutte, Don Giovanni and Le nozze di Figaro performed consecutively over ten three-day cycles, and Franz Schreker's Die Gezeichneten. In 2007-08 he leads performances of Messiaen's monumental Saint François d'Assise, Tristan und Isolde and Strauss's Daphne.
As an orchestral conductor, Ingo Metzmacher has established relationships with the leading symphony orchestras of Europe and the US. Highlights of the 2006-07 season included re-engagements with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, where he led performances of Britten's "War Requiem" at the Musikverein in Vienna, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Camerata Salzburg at the Salzburg Festival and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2007-08 he returns to the San Francisco Symphony, the Bamberg Symphony and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and conducts performances of Engelbert Humperdinck's Königskinder at the Zurich Opera House.
Career highlights include his popular and imaginative New Year's Eve concerts in Hamburg between 1999 and 2004. Entitled Who's afraid of 20th Century Music?, they received broad acclaim year after year and were recorded by EMI. Other landmarks were his production of Luigi Nono's Prometeo at the Salzburg Festival in 1993 and his recording of the complete symphonies of Karl Amadeus Hartmann for EMI with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, where he was principal guest conductor from 1995 to 1999. He was Artiste Etoile at the Lucerne Festival in 2003, where his performances included Bernd Alois Zimmermann's Requiem für einen jungen Dichter. For his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, he conducted the world premiere of Hans Werner Henze's 9th symphony at the request of the composer; the performance was recorded live by EMI. Metzmacher's award-winning book Keine Angst vor neuen Tönen, published in German by Rowohlt in 2005, is a compelling narrative and memoir that explores the influence of such pioneering composers such as Charles Ives, Olivier Messiaen, Arnold Schönberg, Edgard Varèse, Karlheinz Stockhausen and John Cage.
Born in Hanover in 1957, Ingo Metzmacher studied piano, music theory and conducting in Hanover, Salzburg and Cologne. He found his first artistic home at the Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt, initially as a pianist and later as a conductor. During this period he also worked under Michael Gielen at the Frankfurt Opera House. He achieved his breakthrough in 1988 when he stepped in on short notice to conduct the premiere of Schreker's opera Der ferne Klang at La Monnaie in Brussels. This was followed by guest appearances at the opera houses of Dresden, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Paris and Los Angeles. In 1997 he was appointed General Music Director of the Hamburg Opera where he conducted a series of internationally acclaimed productions during his tenure, which ended in 2005. His collaboration with director Peter Konwitschny consistently produced particularly notable successes in this period, the most highly acclaimed productions being Lohengrin, Wozzeck, Freischütz, Don Carlos and Moses and Aaron. The leading German opera magazine Opernwelt voted the Hamburg opera house "Opera House of the Year 2005".
Mr. Metzmacher lives in Berlin.
