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Jörg Widmann studied clarinet at the Munich Hochschule für Musik with Gerd Starke, and then at Julliard in New York with Charles Neidich in 1994-1995. He began studying composition at the age of 11, first taking lessons with Kay Westermann. From 1994 to 1996, he studied with Wilfried Hiller and Hans Werner Henze, and from 1997 to 1999, with Heiner Goebbels and Wolfgang Rihm in Karlsruhe.
Passionate about chambre music, Jörg Widmann regularly performs with musicians such as Tabea Zimmermann, Heinz Holliger, András Schiff, Kim Kashkashian, and Hélène Grimaud. He has premiered clarinet concertos including Musik für Klarinette und Orchester by Wolfgang Rihm in 1999 and Rechant by Heinz Holliger at the Lucern Festival in 2009.
In 2001, Widmann succeeded Dieter Klöcker as clarinet professor at the Freiburg Staatliche Hochschule für Musik, and since 2009, he has also taught composition at this institution.
He has composed many works for chambre ensemble, including string quartets, such as Jagdquartett (2003), premiered by the Arditti Quartet; Choralquartett (2003); and Versuch über die Fuge (2005) for quartet and soprano. Three works inspired by vocal music, Lied (2003, revised in 2007), Chor (2004), and Messe (2005), collectively form a large-scale cycle for orchestra. His catalogue also comprises concertos, including two for clarinet, Echo-Fragmente and Elegie (2006), and others for various instruments making up the Lichtstudie cycle: Polyphone Schatten, Lichtstudie II (2001) and Lichtstudie I-VI (2004). In 2007, Armonica for orchestra with glass harmonica was premiered by Pierre Boulez and the Vienna Philharmonic. His theatrical works have brought him great acclaim. Das Gesicht im Spiegel (2003) was chosen by Opernwelt magazine as the best premiere of 2003-2004. In 2008-2009, he composed the music for a production devised by painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer, Am Anfang, commissioned by Gérard Mortier to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Bastille Opera.
In 2008, he was composer-in-residence at the Siemens Arts Program in Dubai, during which he composed Dubairische Tänze. In 2013, he was artist-in-residence at the Rheingau Musikfestival. In 2016, he became a member of the Mayence Academy of Science and Literature, and in the following year, was named as both head conductor of the Irish Chamber Orchestra and Professor of Composition at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin. In 2019-2020, he occupies the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair at Carnegie Hall, where the season focuses on his work.
Jörg Widmann.
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