Jörg Widmann is pervaded by music. This becomes clear to anyone hearing him talk at spoken word concerts. And anyone perceiving his music, not in a theoretical but primarily in a sensual way, will be fascinated by his explanations. He is one of those all-round talents it would be nice to see more of in music. Widmann now boasts a huge body of works. He regularly appears on the stages of the music world as a clarinetist for New Music and the classical-romantic repertoire and gives composition and instrumental classes as a Professor at Freiburg's music academy.
One of his most remarkable compositions is a trilogy for large orchestra in which song, in the form of the Lied, choir and mass, is transformed into instrumental music: orchestral sound born of the spirit of the cantilena. The first part "Lied" was debuted in 2003 by the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Jonathan Nott. This was the start of a rewarding relationship now continued by the Bamberg Symphony in a two-year collaboration with Jörg Widmann as "composer in residence". The Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation is supporting the composition commission issued to Jörg Widmann for the Lied cycle.