Jakob Weber
Jakob Weber, born in 1977, began playing percussion at the age of 7. From 1990, he received private lessons from Uffe Savery for the next seven years. In 1997, he was admitted to the Royal Danish Academy of Music under Professor Bent Lylloff. In 2001, he studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris with Professors Michel Cerutti and Eric Sammut. Jakob graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Music in 2002 and was subsequently admitted to the soloist class under Professor Gert Mortensen. He made his solo debut on March 30, 2005, with a recital in the Black Diamond, receiving outstanding reviews.
In 1995, Jakob co-founded the duo Sax’n’Drums, launching a professional career marked by broad and active engagements. As a chamber musician, Jakob has performed with ensembles such as Athelas, Figura, Contemporanea, Ars Nova, Cumulus, Royal Danish Brass, New Danish Dance Theatre, and the Danish Saxophone Quartet.
In 1999, Jakob joined the Royal Danish Orchestra on a contract basis and has since performed with all professional orchestras in Denmark, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and the Gustav Mahler Jugend Orchester. Following his debut concert, Jakob was offered the position of principal timpanist in the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra in southern China. During this period, the orchestra toured extensively, performing in China, Japan, the United States, and New Zealand, under conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy and featuring soloists like Lang Lang. Performances included prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York, Symphony Hall in Boston, and in Honolulu, Hawaii.
In 2009, Jakob won the position of Principal Timpanist in the Odense Symphony Orchestra. In 2015, he was appointed Solo Percussionist with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra.
Jakob has appeared as a soloist with several orchestras, including the Odense Symphony Orchestra, performing Per Nørgård’s ‘For a Change’, which received excellent reviews, and with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in a newly composed work by Line Tjørnhøj.
He has premiered works by composers such as Per Nørgård, Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, György Kurtág, Poul Ruders, Lars Klit, Karsten Fundal, Fuzzy, Wayne Siegel, Ejnar Kanding, Anders Brødsgaard, Sven-David Sandström, Hans Abrahamsen, Bent Sørensen, and Thomas Adès. Notably, Per Nørgård and Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen have composed works specifically for Jakob.
Jakob has worked with several prominent conductors, including Claudio Abbado (Eastern Europe/Russia tour), Pierre Boulez (Japan tour), Giuseppe Sinopoli (Turandot), Ingo Metzmacher (European tour), Yuri Temirkanov, and many others. He has performed across most of Europe, as well as in Russia, Israel, the USA, Canada, Cuba, Indonesia, Japan, China, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and New Zealand.
He has received numerous awards, including the Conservatory’s First Prize (Carl Nielsen Travel Grant), and grants from Denmark’s National Bank Anniversary Fund, Augustinus Foundation, Beckett Foundation, the Ingwersenske Fund, Månsson’s Fund, R. Christensson’s Fund, and Martha Hansen’s Memorial Grant. In May 2006, Jakob was awarded the prestigious Betty and Valdemar van Hauen Grant, where he performed as a soloist in Milhaud’s percussion concerto.
Since his debut at the Royal Danish Theatre in ‘La Bohème’ in 1999, Jakob has played in over 100 different productions on the national stage, as well as numerous shows, musicals, and revues in theaters across Denmark.
Currently, Jakob performs with the Operetta Company.
He has appeared on various TV and radio programs as a music communicator, including DR2’s ‘The Classical Music Quiz’.
Jakob began teaching as a part-time lecturer at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in 2015. He briefly headed the program but has since returned to part-time teaching.