Jörg Widmann is considered one of the most versatile and intriguing artists of his generation.
The 2022/23 season sees him appear in all facets of his work, including as Visiting Composer
and Conductor with the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo and the National
Symphony Orchestra Taiwan, as Artist in Residence at Concertgebouw Amsterdam’s
Zaterdag Matinée, Alte Oper Frankfurt and de Singel in Antwerp.
Continuing his intense activities as a conductor this season, Jörg Widmann collaborates with
orchestras including Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Royal
Scottish National Orchestra, City of Birmingham and Barcelona Symphony orchestras and
Radio Filharmonisch Orkest Amsterdam.
He also continues his long standing chamber music partnerships with renowned artists such as
Daniel Barenboim, Tabea Zimmermann, Sir András Schiff, Denis Kozhukhin, the Schumann
and Hagen Quartetts, performing at the Schubertiade Hohenems, Philharmonie Paris,
Muziekgebouw Amsterdam and Wiener Konzerthaus und Musikverein, among others.
Widmann gave the world première of Mark Andre’s Clarinet Concerto über at the
Donaueschinger Musiktage 2015. Other clarinet concertos dedicated to and written for him
include Wolfgang Rihm’s Musik für Klarinette und Orchester (1999) and Aribert Reimann’s
Cantus (2006).
Jörg Widmann studied clarinet with Gerd Starke in Munich and Charles Neidich at the Juilliard
School in New York and later became himself professor of clarinet and composition, first at
University of Music Freiburg and since 2017 as Chair professor for composition at the
Barenboim-Said Academy, Berlin. He was Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin and is
a full member of the Bayerischen Akademie of Schönen Künste, and since 2007, the Freien
Akademie der Künste Hamburg, the Deutschen Akademie der Darstellenden Künste and the
Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz. In 2018 he was awarded the Robert
Schumann Prize for Poetry and Music and was honoured with the Bavarian Order of
Maximilian.
He studied composition with Kay Westermann, Wilfried Hiller, Hans Werner Henze and
Wolfgang Rihm. His works continue to receive many awards, the renowned Elise L. Stoeger
Prize of the New York Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, awarded only every two
years, amongst others.
His compositions are performed regularly by conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Daniel
Harding, Kent Nagano, Franz Welser-Möst, Christian Thielemann, Andris Nelsons and Sir
Simon Rattle and premiered by orchestras such as the Wiener and Berliner Philharmoniker,
New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, BBC Symphony Orchestra, and many others.
This season sees the world premiere of Jörg Widmann’s Tartaros (Labyrinth VII) for 13
instruments with Ensemble Modern at Concertgebouw Amsterdam. Currently, he is writing a
cantata for soloists, choir and orchestra commissioned by the Gewandhausorchester and
Thomanerchor Leipzig, and the new work will be premiered in June 2023 for the 300th
anniversary of the Leipzig Bach Festival in the Thomaskirche.