Jörg Widmann, Yellow Barn’s Composer in Residence, returns to Putney to work with baritone William Sharp and pianist Seth Knopp, as they prepare for the North American premiere of Das heiße Herz, Widmann’s song cycle inspired by Robert Schumann’s Dichterliebe.

Setting poems by Klabund, Clemens Brentano, Heinrich Heine, and Peter Hätling, and from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Widmann says about his work, "This song-cycle expresses the extreme experiences of what love can be. It may be paradise but also a snake pit, or both simultaneously. And without love, one would not wish to exist in the first place."

The April 9^th premiere will be given at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas as part of a 3-day residency and series of concerts. Also featured is a recital of solo clarinet music by Widmann, and his five string quartets, performed as a cycle in a single evening as originally intended by the composer.