Jakob Lehmann is a young musician for whom stylistic awareness and historically informed performance are the pillars of emotionally sincere and energetic interpretations. His dual aims of fidelity to the composer’s intentions with their direct conveyance to his modern audiences guide his diverse activities as both as violinist and conductor. Jakob regards the collaborative convergence of historically informed performance styles with more traditional approaches as one his main objectives.
He enjoys close collaborations with some of Europe’s foremost period instrument orchestras as well as modern chamber orchestras in his diverse roles as concertmaster, chamber musician and coach. Amongst the groups he works with are Camerata Salzburg, B’Rock, Capella Augustina and Vox Barockorchester as well as Le Concert des Nations, which he leads in 2019 and 2020 for the extended Beethoven 250 Academy under the direction of Jordi Savall. From 2015 until 2019, he worked closely with Anima Eterna Brugge.
Increasingly active as an energetic and inspiring conductor, Jakob is Artistic Director of Eroica Berlin, a young chamber orchestra he founded in 2015. The group consists of young musicians from Berlin and focuses on translating the impulses and inspirations from period performance to modern instruments. In 2020, he will make conducting debuts with orchestras such as Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Lorraine, Young Eurasian Soloists and Junge Norddeutsche Philharmonie.
Jakob is Associate Artistic Director of Teatro Nuovo, New York’s newest and most innovative opera festival, which sheds new light on early Romantic Italian opera and whose inaugurate season in 2018 was described by the Financial Times as «transformative». Jakob has co-directed operas by Rossini, Bellini and Mayr as well as performed and conducted instrumental and sacred music by Rossini and Donizetti and will return to New York regularly to work closely with young singers and instrumentalists together with the festival’s Artistic Director Will Crutchfield.
Very active as a recording artist, Jakob’s steadily growing and critically acclaimed discography encompasses a wide range of repertoire, ranging from Purcell to Takemitsu on labels such as Alpha Classics, Sony/DHM, Genuin, Alia Vox, Es Dur and Ars Vobiscum. He is two times winner of an International Classical Music Award 2019.
Jakob is very proud of his intense collaboration and friendship with the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra. He has visited Australia and performed for Australian audiences annually since 2015 both as conductor and concertmaster. His conducting, taking over from an ailing Richard Gill on short notice in 2017, had «perfect instinct for tempi and a strong sense of the importance of balance and blend» according to Limelight Magazine, who also characterized his chamber playing in 2018 as having «a winning sound – particularly in his finely spun high register». Jakob is looking forward to his future musical visits to Australia.
Biography dated 2019. Not to be altered without permission.
For the latest version of Jakob’s biography please visit his website.
www.jakob-lehmann.com
photo credit: Franck Juéry/Alpha Classics