Music festival Lucerne Festival Academy gets new artistic director
From January 2026, the composer, clarinettist and conductor Jörg Widmann will take over as Artistic Director of the Lucerne Festival Academy. He succeeds Wolfgang Rihm, who passed away last year.
04.06.2025, 10:12
SDA
The appointment was made by Sebastian Nordmann, who will take over the directorship of the Lucerne Festival from 2026, the music festival announced in a press release on Wednesday.
Widmann, born in Munich in 1973, is considered one of the "most versatile" and "most sought-after" composers of our time, according to the press release. He works with leading orchestras such as the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics and conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Kent Nagano and Sir Simon Rattle bring his music to the stage around the world, the statement continued. In 2009, Widmann was guest composer in residence at the Lucerne Festival.
"Widmann's ability to inspire people with classical and especially contemporary music made him an absolute dream candidate for us," Sebastian Nordmann was quoted as saying in the press release.
The Lucerne Festival Academy was founded in 2004 and is dedicated to the music of the 20th and 21st centuries. Every year, over 100 young musicians from around 30 nations come to Lucerne to make music and perform together.
The new artistic academy program for the coming year will be presented jointly by Jörg Widmann and Sebastian Nordmann in January 2026.
