Many composers have written works for him, including Messiaen, Berio, Carter, Henze, Krenek, Lutosławski, Martin, Penderecki, Stockhausen and Yun.

[2] An oboist since age eleven,[3] he studied at the conservatory of Bern before taking first prize in oboe at the Geneva International Music Competition in 1959.

Many composers have written works for him, including Luciano Berio, Elliott Carter, Hans Werner Henze, Ernst Krenek, Witold Lutosławski, Frank Martin, Krzysztof Penderecki, Henri Pousseur, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Sándor Veress and Isang Yun.

Holliger was invited by Walter Fink to be the 17th composer featured in the 2007 Komponistenporträt of the Rheingau Musik Festival, where he conducted Claude Debussy's and Robert Schumann's music as well as his own Lieder (which set Georg Trakl poems) and Gesänge der Frühe (which set Friedrich Hölderlin and Schumann texts).

Czech cellist František Brikcius gave the entire "eSACHERe" project its premiere in Prague during May 2011.