Jakob Lehmann is a conductor 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 musical activities. He regards as one of his main objectives the collaborative convergence of historically informed performance styles with more traditional approaches.

​Jakob Lehmann works both with orchestras such as Wiener Symphoniker, Tonkünstler Orchester, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Bochumer Symphoniker, and Brandenburger Symphoniker, as well as period instrument groups such as Concerto Köln, Orchestra of the 18th Century, {OH!} - Orkiestra Historyczna, La Banda Storica Bern, and the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra.

​He is the Artistic Director of Eroica Berlin, a chamber orchestra he founded in 2015 and which performed at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie for the first time in 2020. The group consists of young musicians from Berlin and focuses on translating the impulses and inspirations from period performance to modern instruments.

​The music of Gioachino Rossini and the Belcanto period is a field in which Jakob Lehmann is particularly active, both as a passionate opera conductor as well as in his research, and he has served as Associate Artistic Director of New York based Belcanto festival Teatro Nuovo since 2019. His conducting in this repertoire has been described by the press as “a revelation,” “extraordinary,” and “striking”. Recent opera productions include Rossini’s “Il barbiere di Siviglia” for North Carolina Opera (directed by Francesca Zambello), Donizetti’s “Poliuto” and Bellini’s “I Capuleti e i Montecchi” for Teatro Nuovo, and Mozart’s “Idomeneo” for Opéra National de Lorraine.

​As a presenter, lecturer, and coach for the topics of Romantic performance practice and the Belcanto style, he is working with institutions such as the Juilliard School New York, the Dutch National Opera Studio, the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, the Hochschule der Künste Bern, the Conservatorio Guido Cantelli in Novara, as well as his Alma Mater, the University of Arts Berlin. In 2023, he was elected as the President of the German Rossini Society and further is a member of the American Rossini Society.

​Jakob Lehmann’s discography encompasses a wide range of repertoire on various labels. His two most recent albums, “Mozart 1791” with Concerto Köln (Warner Classics) and Rossini’s “L’italiana in Algeri” with Eroica Berlin (Pan Classics), have been met with great critical acclaim.

​In the 2024/2025 season, he makes his debuts with Brucknerorchester Linz, Les Siècles, Sinfonieorchester Liechtenstein, Orchestra La Scintilla, Collegium Novum Zürich, Wiener Concert-Verein, and Juilliard415. He returns for three different projects to Vienna’s Tonkünstler Orchester (amongst them three concerts at Vienna’s Musikverein), and further works again with Concerto Köln, the Orchestra of the 18th Century, La Banda Storica Bern, and Eroica Berlin. He conducts Verdi’s “Ernani” in his second collaboration with North Carolina Opera and Verdi’s “Macbeth” in his seventh season with Teatro Nuovo.

Photo credit: Sercan Sevindik