Jörg Widmann is a German composer and clarinetist born in Munich, active in contemporary classical music since the 1990s and based chiefly in Germany, with professorships at the University of Music Freiburg (2001-2015) and the Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin (from 2017). He composes across a wide range of genres, including the operas Babylon and Das Gesicht im Spiegel, oratorios such as Arche, concertos for viola, trumpet, and horn, string quartets, and orchestral works, often integrating serial and modernist techniques with dialogue toward Classical and Romantic forebears. He remains active as a composer, clarinetist, and conductor.

Widmann ranks among the most performed living composers internationally, placing third among living contemporary composers worldwide by 2023 performance counts behind John Williams and Arvo Pärt. His music is noted for bridging modernist technique with humanistic and historically engaged themes, and he has received major recognition including the Bavarian Maximilian Order (2018) and the Bach Prize of Hamburg (2023), cementing his position as one of the leading voices in contemporary German composition.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B6rg_Widmann