Lucerne Festival Academy Hires New Artistic Director

Clarinetist, composer, and conductor Jörg Widmann will assume the role from January 2026

The Lucerne Festival’s Designated Executive and Artistic Director, Sebastian Nordmann, has appointed Jörg Widmann as the Lucerne Festival Academy’s upcoming artistic director. 

Widmann will succeed Wolfgang Rihm, who passed away last year. Additionally, he will join Nordmann (who will begin his directorship on January 1, 2026) to present the artistic programming for the Academy in 2026.

Founded in 2004 by Pierre Boulez and Michael Haefliger, the Lucerne Festival Academy welcomes around 100 young musicians each summer to work on diverse repertoire. The upcoming 2025 edition will also celebrate Boulez’s 100th birthday anniversary.  

A graduate of the Juilliard School in clarinet performance, Widmann also pursued composition studies with Kay Westermann, Wilfried Hiller, Hans Werner Henze, Heiner Goebbels, and Wolfgang Rihm. 

His works have since been premiered and performed by orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic (where he was the 2023/24 composer-in-residence), Vienna Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the Cleveland Orchestra, and by conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Kent Nagano, Christian Thielemann, Sir Simon Rattle, and Andris Nelsons. 

Widmann also serves as principal guest conductor of the NDR Radiophilharmonie, associated conductor of the Münchener Kammerorchester, and artistic partner of the Sinfonietta Riga.

From 2001 to 2015, he taught clarinet and composition in Freiburg; since 2017, he has been professor of composition at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin. In 2024, he was named a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. 

“To have the opportunity to carry forward the tradition of championing contemporary music at the Lucerne Festival is a significant responsibility and a great honor,” Widmann said. “I look forward to embedding contemporary music even more deeply in our programming and to offering the best possible opportunities and performance conditions for emerging composers, instrumentalists, and conductors.”

“It brings me great joy that we have been able to appoint Jörg Widmann,” Nordmann added. “His inspiring way of bridging tradition and modernity – in his compositions and in his programming alike — as well as his passionate ability to spark enthusiasm for classical music, especially contemporary music, make him our absolute dream candidate.”