In September 2007 Ingo Metzmacher became Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO). Succeeding Ferenc Fricsay, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Chailly, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Kent Nagano he is the first German conductor in this position in the history of the orchestra founded 60 years ago.

With his 08/09 season’s main focal point ›Breakthrough 1909‹ Ingo Metzmacher will be exploring the musical revolutionary impulses and changes during the period between 1900 and World War I – specifically the time in which the concept of tonality was being increasingly shaken and put into question until it finally collapsed.

Innovative programs and a passionate commitment to the music of the 20th century have always been Metzmacher’s trademark and firmly established him as a leading international conductor. Highlights of the past months were his appearances with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in their prestigious subscription concerts where he performed Messiaen’s ›Illuminations of the Beyond…‹ and at the Mozartwoche in Salzburg, performances with the San Francisco Symphony, the Bamberg Philharmonic Orchestra and his debut at the Zurich Opera House with Humperdinck’s ›Königskinder‹.

Other landmarks of his outstanding career include a series of New Year’s Eve concerts in Hamburg from 1999 to 2004, entitled ›Who is afraid of 20th Century Music?‹, which received highly public acclaim year after year and have appeared on CD, 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 to1999. He was ›Artiste Etoile‹ at the Lucerne Festival in 2003, where his performances included Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s ›Requiem für einen jungen Dichter‹. He marked his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducting the world premiere of Hans Werner Henze’s 9th Symphony which was recorded live by EMI. Metzmacher’s book ›Keine Angst vor neuen Tönen‹, published in German by Rowohlt in 2005, is a further highly successful plea for pioneering composers such as Charles Ives, Olivier Messiaen, Arnold Schönberg, Edgard Varèse, Karlheinz Stockhausen and John Cage.

Hannover-born Ingo Metzmacher, the son of a cellist and a biologist, studied piano, music theory and conducting in his home town, 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 to conduct the premiere of Schreker’s opera ›Der ferne Klang‹ 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 whole series of internationally acclaimed productions over a period of eight seasons. 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‹.

Productions of ›Tristan und Isolde‹ and ›Saint François d’Assise‹ in May and June marked his farewell from the Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam where he was Chief Conductor over three seasons. Highlights of his tenure include performances of Henze’s ›The Bassarids‹ directed by Peter Stein, ›Die tote Stadt‹ and ›Die Gezeichneten‹ with the Concertgebouw Orchestra as well as his cycle of the three Da Ponte operas by Mozart in productions of Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito.

His schedule for the 08/09 season - besides his work in Berlin - includes new productions of ›Tristan und Isolde‹ in Zurich and ›Die tote Stadt‹ at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, a London Proms appearance with a concert version of Messiaen’s ›Saint François d’Assise‹, a European tour with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra as well as concerts with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome and a residency at the Aspen Festival 2008. As a pianist he will be heard in recital with Christine Schäfer, Matthias Goerne and Christian Gerhaher.

New recordings of ›Von deutscher Seele‹ by Hans Pfitzner with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and ›Eclairs sur l’Au-Delà…‹ by Olivier Messiaen with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra will be released on the Phoenix and Kairos CD labels in the autumn of 2008.

July 2008


For further information please visit:
www.ingometzmacher.com