Clarinetist, composer, and conductor Jörg Widmann is one of the most versatile and intriguing artists of his generation. As holder of the 2019–2020 Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair at Carnegie Hall, his work is featured throughout the Hall’s season.

Mr. Widmann is also an artist in residence at the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Palau de la Música in Barcelona, and Bergen International Festival. His chamber music performances include concerts with longstanding collaborators Sir András Schiff, Daniel Barenboim, Mitsuko Uchida, Tabea Zimmermann, Antoine Tamestit, and the Hagen Quartet, and at venues and festivals such as the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Salzburg Festival, and Vienna’s Konzerthaus. In addition, he conducts the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa (Japan), Swedish Chamber Orchestra, and Hessian State Orchestra in Wiesbaden, Germany.

In recent seasons, Mr. Widmann has been an artist in residence at the Lucerne and Salzburg festivals, as well as the Bamberger Symphoniker, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, BOZAR, and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. He has been a featured guest at Vienna’s Konzerthaus, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Kölner Philharmonie, and Leipzig’s Gewandhaus.

As a composer, Mr. Widmann’s works have been recognized with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s 2009 Elise L. Stoeger Prize, Paul Hindemith Prize, Arnold Schönberg Prize, and Berliner Philharmoniker’s Claudio Abbado Composition Prize. Daniel Barenboim, Daniel Harding, Valery Gergiev, Kent Nagano, Christian Thielemann, Mariss Jansons, Andris Nelsons, and Sir Simon Rattle program his compositions regularly. His works have been premiered by the Berliner Philharmoniker, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, and BBC Symphony Orchestra.

As a clarinetist, Mr. Widmann performs frequently with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, National Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, and Toronto Symphony Orchestra. In 2015, he gave the world premiere of Mark Andre’s über for Clarinet, Orchestra, and Live Electronics at the Donaueschinger Festival. Other clarinet concertos dedicated to and written for him include Wolfgang Rihm’s Musik für Klarinette und Orchester and Aribert Reimann’s Cantus.

Mr. Widmann studied composition with Kay Westermann, Wilfried Hiller, and Wolfgang Rihm. He studied clarinet with Gerd Starke in Munich and Charles Neidich at The Juilliard School in New York.