Peter Kooij

Fred Jacobs studied lute and theorbo at the Amsterdam Sweelinck Conservatory. His teacher Anthony Bailes gave him an excellent education at that famous institution where since 1995 Jacobs himself teaches lute and theorbo - specialised on the more unknown music of the 17th century which more or less exists in tabulature only.    Fred Jacobs' wide experience is based on diverse concert activities. He is founder and member of The Locke Consort that won first prizes at London and Boston during the eighties. He plays with famous ensembles such as the Gabrielli Consort and Players, The Parley of Instruments, Currende Consort, the Baroque Orchestra of the Nederlandse Bachvereniging and the Monteverdi Continuo-Ensemble from the Bavarian State Opera that won the Münchner Festspielpreis in 1997. Many vocalists like Anne Azéma, Johannette Zomer, Michael Chance, Max van Egmond or Maarten Koningsberger are regulary accompanied by Fred Jacobs and he plays under well-known conductors like Gustav Leonhardt, Frans Brüggen, Christopher Hogwood, Robert King, Ivor Bolton or Andrew Parrot. Fred Jacobs gave concerts at major music festivals such as Utrecht, Beaune, Venice, York, Moscow, Schleswig- Holstein and San Antonio. He performed with operas in Nancy, Bath, Munich, Paris, Amsterdam and Florence. His numerous CD-recordings are various.    Together with Carolyn Watkinson Fred Jacobs runs workshops on the lute-accompanied English song and with Anne Azéma the French "Air de Cour". He also gives master classes at the conservatories of Arnhem and Rotterdam.