Ingo Metzmacher studied the piano, music theory and conducting in his home town of Hannover as well as in Salzburg and Cologne. The initial stages of his professional career took him first to Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt, then to the Frankfurt Opera under Michael Gielen. His international career began in 1988 at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels during the Mortier era.

In 1997 he was appointed general music director of the Hamburg State Opera, where he conducted numerous internationally acclaimed performances during his eight-year tenure. He then became principal conductor of De Nederlandse Opera (Dutch National Opera) and, from 2007 to 2010, principal conductor and artistic director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. 

Highlights of recent years have included his performances at the Salzburg Festival (including a performance of Nono's Prometeo), as well as at the Vienna State Opera, London’s Royal Opera House, the Zurich Opera and the Berlin State Opera (performing Nono’s Al gran sole carico d’amore). He has also conducted concerts with leading orchestras that have included the Vienna, Berlin and Munich Philharmonics, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

 Central to his commitments during the 2013-2014 season is a new production of Wagner's Ring Cycle in Geneva. Das Rheingold opened in March 2013 and will be followed by Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung and in May 2014 by two complete cycles. He is also continuing to work closely with the New Japan Philharmonic, the Czech Philharmonic, the Bamberg and Vienna Symphony Orchestras and the Orchestre de Paris. At the Holland Festival Metzmacher was the musical director for Dionysos (2011), Lulu and Wozzeck (both in 2005).