Conductor

Ingo Metzmacher

San Carlo Theatre

Deep gorges, large rock pyramids in intense colors, vast forests and a breathtakingly wide starry sky: In his sound-painting work »Des canyons aux étoiles« (»From the Canyons to the Stars«), Olivier Messiaen invites you on a journey through the impressive national parks of the US state of Utah, which he once visited himself.

EPSG:4326

Klangforum Wien / Ingo Metzmacher

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

From the profound sense of wonder in awe of the unfathomable beauty of the rocky landscapes in Utah/North America, all the way up to the overarching panoply of the stars – thus one might imagine the energy field inhabited by Olivier Messiaen as he wrote this masterpiece of compositional architecture and sound in colourful splendour. From the depths of the canyons, through the stars, and into paradise.

Elbphilharmonie: From the Gorges to the Stars

Sternschluchten

Wiener Konzerthaus

RDAM Gala Concert 2025

Konservatoriets Koncertsal

The naked human body – lost to the world, but manifesting itself through the voice, in song and in the utterance of words: In search of the primordial logos, Francesca Verunelli questions the naked voice, la nuda voce. Klangforum Wien, too, represents a body: James Dillon examines this highly virtuoso and equally fragile “ensemble body” in all its ritual dynamics. Martin Smolka abandons all traces of corporeality, instead creating an image of angels in feathery-winged vehicles. It’s all about the primeval foundation of sound.

Nackte Stimme

Night, as a shadowy realm between dream and reality, has always fascinated us humans. Gustav Mahler was also captivated by it. His Seventh Symphony therefore features two "Night Musics." With Rembrandtian chiaroscuro and a Viennese serenade tone, they conjure a mysterious atmosphere into the concert hall. Mahler's Seventh, premiered in Prague in 1908, is alive with extreme contrasts between melancholy and awakening, between longing and exuberant joy. As a musical premonition of Mahler's nocturnal sounds, the piece "Near Midnight" by the Scottish composer Helen Grime resounds.

Night Music - Mahler's Seventh

Museum Ludwig

Visit the WDR Symphony Orchestra's free rehearsal at the Cologne Philharmonic Hall on Thursday from 12:00 to 12:30 p.m. and whet your appetite for an evening of concerts.

PhilharmonieLunch

This year, the popular Ö1 classical music meeting point will once again be making a stop at the Salzburg Festival on its summer tour. Once again, the Ö1 team will temporarily transform the SalzburgKulisse at the Haus für Mozart into a radio studio – and you can join them live. The broadcast will feature a top-class trio of guests representing the three divisions of the Salzburg Festival – drama, concerts, and opera: actress Dörte Lyssewski, conductor Ingo Metzmacher, and opera singer Ausrine Stundyte. In conversation with Helene Breisach, the three will talk about their performances at this year's Salzburg Festival, share their artistic visions, and perform selected favorite music.

Ö1 Classic Meeting Point Live

SalzburgKulisse

1968: Students and civil rights movements demonstrate worldwide in the streets, Martin Luther King is assassinated, and the reform projects of the Prague Spring are crushed by invading Warsaw Pact troops—a politically symbolic year. That same year, Hans Werner Henze's oratorio was also scheduled to premiere in Hamburg, but the premiere was met with protests and a police intervention in the concert hall. The scandal made The Raft of the Medusa instantly famous. The libretto is based on the true, scandalous story of a shipwreck off the west coast of Africa: While those responsible sought safety in lifeboats, 154 crew members and passengers were abandoned to the ocean on a makeshift raft.

The Raft of the Medusa — Bavarian Radio Choir · WDR Choir · ORF RSO · Metzmacher

Felsenreitschule

The next stop of Georg Friedrich Haas' monumental concert installation takes Klangforum Wien to Hanover. Festival director Ingo Metzmacher will be at the helm of the musical direction. Once again, 50 pianos combine to form a single instrument with a gigantic sound that reverberates like a storm from the depths of the universe.

11,000 Strings

DHC Halle, Hanover

Ingo Metzmacher conducts works by Shostakovich, Ligeti and Hartmann

Mannheimer Rosengarten

Freiburg Concert Hall

Patricia Kopatchinskaja plays Shostakovich, Ligeti and Hartmann

Kultur- & Kongresszentrum Liederhalle

SO ZARATHUSTRA WAS SILENT ... and Böcklin put down his brush. Strauss' tone poem is so expressive that even the eloquent Nietzsche listens speechlessly; forms and...

Gewandhausorchester, Ingo Metzmacher conductor

Gewandhaus

school concert

Once to America and back - that is our "travel route" in the 4th Symphony Concert A. The well-known conductor Ingo Metzmacher in Hanover has two American classics from the early and late 20th century in his luggage. The soloist on the piano is Conrad Tao, one of the most exciting young artists on the current US music scene. After the concert break, we return to the heart of "old" Europe: to the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and his book "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", to which Richard Strauss has erected a musical monument.

Large. "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" by Richard Strauss

NDR Konzerthaus | Großer Sendesaal

We go in search of clues: with Ingo Metzmacher and Richard Strauss' work "Thus Spoke Zarathustra".


Searching for clues. "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" for school classes

NDR Concert Hall | Small Broadcasting Hall

A radical listening experience that emerges from the void. Starting with a double or triple piano, the three composers sharpen and challenge the sense of hearing from the very first moment of evolving sound. Between echo and silence, Nono suspends a primordial rhythmic cell of music by the indigenous peoples of Brazil. On the threshold of the inaudible, Andre moves in search of the most intense presence of mystical experience. Haas, in turn, follows a never-ending melody into the depths of a vastly unfolding space.

Riss

Czech Philharmonic Youth Orchestra • Dvořák Prague Festival

Rudolfinum

The last of the three concerts of the Czech Philharmonic at Dvořák Prague will certainly be the most varied in terms of dramaturgy. Under the baton of Ingo Metzmacher, there will be works paying tribute to the past as well as the world premiere of Violonceloops, in which Václav Petr will shine.

Czech Philharmonic, Václav Petr • Dvořák Prague Festival

Richard Wagner created a crossroads in music history with his operas and became an idol for Anton Bruckner and many other composers. Ingo Metzmacher conducts orchestral music from Wagner's opera Parsifal and Bruckner's Symphony No. 7.

Oslo Concert Hall

From the 1960s onwards, political engagement became a central driving force behind the work of composer Hans Werner Henze. The 'voices' that speak in different languages are those of the poor and disenfranchised, as captured by politically engaged poets from around the world. The result is a cycle that has affinities with musical theatre, offering a stirring musical experience that consciously follows in the tradition of Hanns Eisler and Paul Dessau.

Conductor

Ingo Metzmacher

Events

Upcoming events

Jun 2, 2026

Ensemble Modern · Alte Oper Frankfurt

Jun 10, 2026

Open Young Ears! - Hans Werner Henze · Ensemble Modern

Jun 12, 2026

6th subscription concert · Ensemble Modern

Aug 31, 2026

Open Young Ears! - Eislermaterial · Ensemble Modern

Past events

Feb 1, 2026

Ingo Metzmacher · Teatro di San Carlo

Jan 23, 2026

Klangforum Wien / Ingo Metzmacher · Elbphilharmonie

Future and recently performed repertoire

Conductor in Symphony No. 5 by Tchaikovsky

Czech Philharmonic

Conductor in Symphony No. 8 by Dvořák

Czech Philharmonic

Conductor in Violin Concerto No. 1 by Shostakovich

SWR Symphonieorchester

Conductor in Triple Concerto by Beethoven

Czech Philharmonic

Conductor in Symphony No. 2 by Brahms

Teatro di San Carlo

Conductor in Symphony No. 7 by Mahler

WDR Sinfonieorchester

Conductor in Memorial to Lidice by Martinů

Czech Philharmonic

Conductor in Thus spoke Zarathustra by Strauss

Gewandhausorchester

Conductor in Near Midnight by Grime

WDR Sinfonieorchester

Conductor in Cello Concerto, Op.129 by Schumann

Gewandhausorchester

Conductor in 4 Tone Poems after Arnold Böcklin by Strauss

Gewandhausorchester

Conductor in Four Tone Poems after A. Böcklin by Reger

Gewandhausorchester

Conductor in Mysteries of the Macabre by Ligeti

SWR Symphonieorchester

Conductor in Symphony No. 3 by Hartmann

SWR Symphonieorchester

Conductor in Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor by Shostakovich

SWR Symphonieorchester

Conductor in Das Floß der Medusa by Henze

Salzburger Festspiele

Conductor in La nuda voce I by Verunelli

Klangforum Wien

Conductor in Rush by Smolka

Klangforum Wien

Conductor in The Hermes Scroll by Dillon

Klangforum Wien

Conductor in 11,000 strings by Haas

Klangforum Wien

Conductor in Des Canyons aux étoiles (From the Canyons to the Stars) by Messiaen

Klangforum Wien

Conductor in Polifonica - Monodia - Ritmica by Nono

Klangforum Wien

Conductor in …heraus in Luft und Licht… by Haas

Klangforum Wien

Conductor in riss 1-3 by Andre

Klangforum Wien

Conductor in Violonceloops by Wajsar

Czech Philharmonic

Conductor in The Enchanted Forest by Henze

Teatro di San Carlo

Conductor in Fünf neapolitanische Lieder by Henze

Teatro di San Carlo

Conductor in Voices by Henze

Ensemble Modern

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