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Irish Chamber Orchestra and Jörg Widmann present the album Invitation, featuring master works by Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Schumann. This album celebrates a remarkable ten-year creative partnership between the ICO and Jörg Widmann, who, while now pursuing new projects, remains closely connected with the ensemble. Marking the ICO’s first recording with PENTATONE, Invitation captures the orchestra at its most expressive, fromthe taut intensity and contrapuntal precision of Mozart’s C minor Serenade for Winds to the buoyant energy and intricate textures of Mendelssohn’s String Symphony No. 8. Widmann’s direction brings out the rich interplay of voices, the lyrical clarity of the winds and strings, and the dynamic contrasts that give each work its distinctive character. The album concludes with Schumann’s Overture, Scherzo and Finale, delivered with infectious rhythmic drive and exuberant lyricism. The ICO’s finely tuned ensemble playing highlights the sparkling dialogue between strings and winds, while Widmann shapes the work’s sweeping gestures and playful contrasts with precision and vitality. Across these three composers, Invitation offers listeners an immediate sense of drama, wit, and emotional depth, revealing the subtle humour, harmonic brilliance, and expressive contrasts that define each masterpiece and celebrating a decade of collaboration between conductor and orchestra.

Invitation

Official release date: 27th February 2026

Irish Chamber Orchestra and Jörg Widmann present the album Invitation, featuring masterworks by Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Schumann.

This album celebrates a remarkable ten-year creative partnership between the ICO and Jörg Widmann, who, while now pursuing new projects, remains closely connected with the ensemble. Marking the ICO’s first recording with PENTATONE, Invitation captures the orchestra at its most expressive, from the taut intensity and contrapuntal precision of Mozart’s C minor Serenade for Winds to the buoyant energy and intricate textures of Mendelssohn’s String Symphony No. 8. Widmann’s direction brings out the rich interplay of voices, the lyrical clarity of the winds and strings, and the dynamic contrasts that give each work its distinctive character. The album concludes with Schumann’s Overture, Scherzo and Finale, delivered with infectious rhythmic drive and exuberant lyricism. The ICO’s finely tuned ensemble playing highlights the sparkling dialogue between strings and winds, while Widmann shapes the work’s sweeping gestures and playful contrasts with precision and vitality. Across these three composers, Invitation offers listeners an immediate sense of drama, wit, and emotional depth, revealing the subtle humour, harmonic brilliance, and expressive contrasts that define each masterpiece and celebrating a decade of collaboration between conductor and orchestra

Having had the great joy and honour of serving as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of
the Irish Chamber Orchestra for ten years, it was a heartfelt wish of both the orchestra and myself to bring together some of the special musical moments from our collaboration on a
CD. As the orchestra can consider itself fortunate to count equally outstanding wind and
string players among its ranks, we present here, on the one hand, Mozart’s C minor Serenade
for Winds (“Nachtmusique”), in which I myself play the clarinet, and on the other hand,
Mendelssohn’s early yet already masterfully crafted and ‘glowingly’ contrapuntal String
Symphony No. 8. Finally, I conduct the entire orchestra in Schumann’s ingeniously whimsical
orchestral work Overture, Scherzo and Finale. May the spirit of friendship and the joy of our
shared music making carry over to you, our listeners.

Jörg Widmann

Irish Chamber Orchestra
Jörg Widmann

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