Jack Liebeck

Violin / Director

https://www.jackliebeck.com/

British/German violinist, director and festival director Jack Liebeck possesses “flawless technical mastery” and a “beguiling silvery tone” (BBC Music Magazine). Jack is the Royal Academy of Music’s first Émile Sauret Professor of Violin and Artistic Director of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, “A diverse and interesting program, giving voice to many of the festival artists, this was a terrific offering for this year’s Australian Festival of Chamber Music.” (Limelight Magazine). Jack’s playing embraces the worlds of elegant chamber-chic Mozart through to the impassioned mastery required to frame Brett Dean The Lost Art of Letter Writing and he has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras, conductors and chamber musicians. Jack’s fascination with all things scientific has led to two new concertos being written for him and regular collaborator Professor Brian Cox - Dario Marianelli’s Voyager Violin Concerto and Paul Dean’s A Brief History of Time commissioned by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in commemoration of Professor Stephen Hawking.

Upcoming engagements include Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie, Salieca Piano Trio at Wigmore Hall, a return to Savannah Chamber Music Festival, debuts at La Jolla Festival and the New York premiere of a new programme with VOCES8, Flight of the Soul, which will tour in ’25-’26.

In summer 2024 Jack gave the world premiere of Taylor Scott Davis’ Effortlessly with VOCES8 on the main stage of Sydney Opera House receiving 5 star reviews from Limelight and Sydney Arts Guide (“goosebump material”). Effortlessly is the first movement of To Sing of Love: a Triptych, a new concerto for violin, choir & orchestra which was written for Jack and released on new album To Sing of Love in June. A new commission from Debbie Pritchard is in the works, and future album releases include Clive Osgood Stabat Mater on Convivium Records, the Wilson Violin Concerto recorded with Rory Macdonald and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for Linn Records and a London Choral Sinfonia recording of Malcolm Arnold Double Concerto with Alexander Sitkovesky.

The Lark Ascending (new adaption for soloist, choir, orch): Jack Liebeck with The VOCES8 Foundation Choir and Orchestra in LIVE From London/RVW Anniversary concert

Recent highlights also include a return to Queensland Symphony Orchestra performing a new arrangement of Lark Ascending “Jack Liebeck’s violin commenced with the absolute lightest of touches, a whisper of chords that was as breathtaking as it was beautiful” (Artshub), his debut with Spokane Symphony performing the US premiere of Marianelli Voyager and returns to Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (Bruch with Jaime Martin), Savannah Chamber Music Festival and the Franz Liszt Orchestra. Album releases include To Sing of Love and A Choral Christmas (5* BBC Music Magazine) both with the VOCES8 Foundation Choir and Orchestra and Barnaby Smith; Vaughan Williams’ Concerto Accademico with London Choral Sinfonia (Editor’s Choice in Gramophone: “a sensuous warmth and rapt glow that will stop you in your tracks”) and a chamber recording of English composer Frederick Laurence with pianist Anna Tilbrook. Jack’s Schoenberg & Brahms with BBC Symphony Orchestra was ‘Recording of the Month’ and BBC Music Magazine’s ‘Recommended Recording’ for the Brahms Violin Concerto in its ‘the greatest violin concertos of all time’.

Jack Liebeck recording Schoenberg and Brahms violin concertos

In the 25+ years since his debut with the Hallé, Jack has worked with major international conductors and orchestras including Sakari Oramo, Andrew Litton, Leonard Slatkin, Karl-Heinz Steffens, Sir Mark Elder, Vasily Petrenko, Brett Dean (Royal Stockholm Philharmonic), Daniel Harding (Swedish Radio), Jukka Pekka Saraste (Oslo Philharmonic), David Robertson (St Louis Symphony), Jakub Hrůša and many orchestras across the world including Belgian National, Queensland Symphony, Moscow State Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Indianapolis Symphony and all of UK orchestras. Recent orchestral appearances include Queensland Symphony with Elena Schwarz, Uppsala with Rebecca Miller, Philharmonia with Santtu-Matias Rouvali, BBC Philharmonic, Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie, Bournemouth Symphony with Jamie Phillips, BBC National Orchestra of Wales with Jac van Steen, and Opera North with David Greed. Recital touring includes performances across Europe, USA and Australasia for festivals and venues such as Wigmore Hall, Savannah Music Festival, Portugal Festival de Música dos Capuchos, Arts and Lettres, Vevey, Inons Festival (CA), Leeds International Piano Competition, multiple UK festivals as well as his own Australian Festival of Chamber Music and Oxford May Music festival.

Other notable recordings and collaborations include recordings Ysaÿe Six Sonatas on Orchid Classics “...in every track Liebeck excels in capturing the fury, poetry, madness and dazzle of Ysaÿe’s haunting music. This is an exceptional release.” (The Times 5*); The Lark Ascending with VOCES8 commemorating Vaughan Williams’ 150th anniversary, the world premiere recording of Stuart Hancock’s violin concerto released on Orchid Classics, The Mozart Question with Michael Morpurgo and the London Philharmonic, Classic FM’s, The Glorious Garden (poetry and narration by Alan Titchmarsh with music by Debbie Wiseman), Alexis Ffrench Truth, a project with Opera North, and as BBC Music Magazine’s cover disc in celebration of Paganini, The Virtuoso Violin. He can also be heard in the soundtracks of The Theory of Everything, Jane Eyre and Anna Karenina.

As the first Émile Sauret Professor of Violin at the Royal Academy of Music Jack works as an ambassador helping to recruit future talent both at home and internationally as well as nurturing the next generation of violinists in his class. Jack has a developing relationship with digital teaching app NomadPlay, a unique opportunity for individuals to play alongside renowned musicians and orchestras. He has written and curated pieces for Strad Magazine, guest edited Classical Music Magazine, and presented BBC Radio 3’s Inside Music. Jack is also a member of the Salieca Piano Trio and directs his own ensemble of regular collaborators, ‘Jack Liebeck and Friends’.

Jack plays the ‘Ex-Wilhelmj’ J.B. Guadagnini dated 1785 and is generously loaned a Joseph Henry bow by Kathron Sturrock in the memory of her late husband Professor David Bennett.

For further projects and for print, please download Jack’s full biography.