René Jacobs
René Jacobs began his career as a countertenor and quickly earned the reputation as one of the finest of his time. He gradually turned to conducting and, since the turn of the new century, has rarely sung in concert. As a countertenor, Jacobs championed a string of forgotten Baroque composers on his recordings: Antonio Cesti, Sigismondo d'India, and Luca Marenzio, to name a few, but he also sang, in both concert and opera, many standards by Monteverdi, J.S. Bach, and Handel, among others. As a conductor, he has led many performances of sacred music by Bach and Buxtehude and has focused heavily on the operas of Monteverdi, Handel, and Mozart. He has conducted purely orchestral music as well, notably symphonies by Haydn and Mozart. In 2021, Jacobs issued a recording of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, conducting the Freiburger Barockorchester and Berlin RIAS Kammerkor.
Jacobs was born in Ghent, Belgium, on October 30, 1946. As a child, he was a chorister at St. Bavo's Cathedral in Ghent. After obtaining a degree in philology from Ghent University, he studied voice with Louis Devos and Lucie Frateur. Later, he took master classes with countertenor Alfred Deller. Already active on the concert stage, Jacobs made his operatic debut in Amsterdam in 1974, singing Clerio in Francesco Cavalli's Erismena. In 1977, Jacobs founded Concerto Vocale, an ensemble he would appear with in many concerts, operatic productions, and recordings. By the 1980s, Jacobs was steeped in conducting commitments, though he continued to sing, often in the same concerts. He was also editing performing editions of operas, as he famously did for the 1989 performance he led at the Opera de Montpellier of Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea. In the 1990s, Jacobs established his credentials as one of the finest conductors on record of Mozart's operas. His 1998 Così fan tutte, for Harmonia Mundi, became one of the label's best-selling recordings, but it wasn't just his Mozart that drew attention: Jacobs' performances of Haydn's Il mondo della luna at the 2001 Innsbruck Early Music Festival and at the Staatsoper unter den Linden the following year drew lavish critical praise. Jacobs served as the artistic director of the Innsbruck Early Music Festival from 1996 until 2009.
He hasn't slowed down his performing and recording pace in the 21st century, and his more than 200 releases are available on a variety of labels, including Harmonia Mundi, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, and Berlin Classics, among others. Jacobs has earned many awards in his career, including several Cannes Classical Awards (one for his recording of Handel's Rinaldo in 2004), the prestigious Diapason d'Or more than ten times (one for his recording of Haydn's The Seasons in 2005), and a Grammy Award in 2005 for his recording of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. In 2021, he led the Freiburger Barockorchester and Berlin RIAS Kammerkor in a recording of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, on Harmonia Mundi.
© Robert Cummings /TiVo
-
Cavalli: Giasone
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 6 Oct 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Secular Cantatas, BWV 201, 205 & 213
René Jacobs, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and RIAS Kammerchor
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 26 Apr 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Blow & Lawes - An Ode and English Songs
Music by vocal ensembles - Released by Sony Classical on 6 Mar 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Opera Arias
Opera - Released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on 1 Jan 1984
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Monteverdi & Frescobaldi: Madrigali
Classical - Released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on 1 Jan 1984
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: Symphonies No. 91 & 92 "Oxford" & Scena di Berenice
Freiburger Barockorchester, Bernarda Fink, René Jacobs
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 24 Feb 2005
Choc de Classica16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cantates et airs d'église allemands
René Jacobs, Kuijken Consort, Parnasus
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Accent on 1 Jan 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grandi - Sacri Concerti
Choirs (sacred) - Released by Sony Classical - Sony Music on 2 Dec 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Marcello: The 50th Psalm from: Estro Poetico-Armonico, Venezia 1726 (96/24 Remastering)
Vocal Recitals - Released by Masterworks on 20 Jan 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Kittel: Arien und Kantaten, Op.1
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Monteverdi: Vespro della beata Vergine
Concerto Vocale, Chœur de chambre des Pays-Bas, René Jacobs
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 31 Jul 2007
5 de Diapason16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Carissimi: Duets & Cantatas
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 8 Nov 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
PURCELL, H.: Vocal Music (Jacobs)
René Jacobs, Konrad Junghänel, Wieland Kuijken
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Accent on 4 Feb 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Airs de cour
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 10 Aug 1981
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mazzocchi: Sacrae Concertationes
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 9 May 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ariette e Cavatine
Classical - Released by Accent on 1 Apr 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Italian Sacred Music
Classical - Released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on 1 Jan 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Telemann, G.P.: Cantatas and Odes
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, René Jacobs, Raphael Alpermann
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by CapriccioNR on 1 Jan 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Italian Solo Cantatas (Voice)
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 1 Jan 1975
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cantates & Airs d'église allemands (René Jacobs)
Cantatas (sacred) - Released by Accent on 1 Jan 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cantates et Odes
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, René Jacobs, Raphael Alpermann
Chamber Music - Released by CapriccioNR on 1 Jan 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo