Ingrid Røynesdal made early contact with classical music because her father was a musician in the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra. She studied piano at the Barratt Due Music Institute and the Norwegian Academy of Music with Jens Harald Bratlie, Jiří Hlinka, and Einar Henning Smebye as teachers. She graduated from the two-year soloist diploma program at the Norwegian Academy of Music in the spring of 2005 in the same year as she completed her master's degree in political science with a thesis on cultural policy.

Previously, she was director of the Edvard Grieg Museum Troldhaugen in Bergen from 2011--2013, chair of the board of the Ultima festival, and a commentator and reviewer in Aftenposten from 2009--2011. She took over as director of the Oslo Philharmonic from Odd S. Gullberg in 2013.