Jozef Van Wissem - The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
St Matthias Church, London.

More information about Jozef Van Wissem - The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari tickets
St Matthias Church - February 17th
According to The New York Times “Van Wissem is both an avant-garde composer and a baroque lutenist, and thus no stranger to dichotomy”. He has gained recognition for his innovative approach, the “liberation of the lute”, as he describes it. Jozef Van Wissem is an avant-garde composer and lutenist who plays his unique all-black baroque lute all over the world. His timeless music is often described as hypnotic, minimal, and hauntingly atmospheric, merging beauty with a dark, meditative edge. His lyrics have a mythical Christian appeal, incorporating themes of love, faith, and the afterlife, often with a repetitive, mantra-like quality. He studied lute in New York with Patrick O’Brien in the 1990s and has since built a career that bridges classical traditions with modern sounds like drones, electronics, field recordings and voice.
He collaborates with filmmaker and musician Jim Jarmusch, including the award-winning soundtrack for Only Lovers Left Alive, for which Van Wissem won the Cannes Soundtrack Award in 2013. A world tour with Jarmusch and their 5th record “ The Day The Angels Cried” is coming up in 2025.
His solo work spans albums like Stations of The Cross (2008) which Wire Magazine labeled a small masterpiece, New Lute Music For Film (2013) and Behold! I Make All Things New (2022), as well as scores for films like Un Prince (2023).
In 2022 four of his compositions including the vocal piece “Love Destroys All Evil” were featured in HBO’s Irma Vep Series (starring Alicia Vikander). In 2023 Van Wissem scored the Cannes Award winning film Un Prince. The New York Times wrote ” A subtly medieval score — distinguished by the thrum of a lute and composed by Jozef van Wissem — draws out a surreal dimension. Eventually, the film shifts into explicitly sexual and mythological terrain with a B.D.S.M. edge, and the score keeps pace, taking on a folk metal vibe.” His latest projects include the 2024 album The Night Dwells in the Day. The Chicago Reader said “ On The Night Dwells in the Day, he bolsters the lute’s delicate progress through the palindromic melodic structures of his compositions using sequenced beats, subliminal electronic drones, and stern intonations”. In 2024 Van Wissem was commissioned to score the silent film The Fall Of The House Of Usher (1928). In 2026 he will premiere his new live score for The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari (1920).
A new solo record and worldwide tour is slated for early 2026. He will be performing all new material consisting amongst others of cinematic hypnotist slide lute pieces evoking contemporary deserted landscapes.