IngoMetzmacher

Ingo Metzmacher was General Music Director of the Staatsoper Hamburg (1997–2005), Chief Conductor at the Dutch National Opera (2005–2007) and Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (2007–2010). From 2016 to 2025, he served as Artistic Director of the KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen in Hanover, shaping the festival with ambitious large-scale projects and landmark premieres.

Ingo’s 2026/2027 season opens with a return to the Salzburger Festspiele for Hans Werner Henze’s Der Prinz von Hamburg. He also brings Henze’s Voices with Ensemble Modern to Köln, and with Klangforum Wien to Wien and Madrid, and weaves Henze with Wagner and Debussy at the Verdi Festival in Parma. Ingo continues his close relationship with Opéra national de Paris, leading the world premiere of Hèctor Parra’s Miroir de nos peines, as well as Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Also in Paris, he returns to Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France for the European premiere of Unsuk Chin’s trumpet concerto with Håkan Hardenberger. Elsewhere, Ingo joins Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Pierre-Laurent Aimard for performances of Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphony across Germany. He partners works of Lili Boulanger with Stravinsky and Bernstein in Berlin, and brings Zemlinsky to Reykjavik, Brahms to Brussels, Hindemith to Bolzano and Shostakovich to Copenhagen.

Highlights of recent seasons include new productions of Rihm’s Die Eroberung von Mexico, Enescu’s Œdipe, Nono’s Intolleranza 1960, Verdi’s Falstaff, and Hans Werner Henze’s The Raft of the Medusa at the Salzburger Festspiele, Strauss’ Salome at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Enescu’s Œdip and Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and Glass’s Satyagraha in Paris, Braunfel’s Die Vögel at the Bayerische Staatsoper and, most recently, Magnard’s Guercœur at the Opéra national du Rhin and the world premiere of Francesco Filidei’s Il nome della rosa at Teatro alla Scala. To date, he has led the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester on five tours across Europe.

At the KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen, Ingo brought together the NDR Radiophilharmonie and numerous regional choirs to perform Schönberg’s Gurre-Lieder, Berlioz’s Requiem, Mahler’s Symphony No.8 and Bernstein’s MASS, and with the Ensemble Modern the world premiere of Mark Andre’s rwh 1-4.