Jakob Bloch
Jespersen acquired already as a boy his fundamental musical education, as well
as his interest in singing, from his membership of the Copenhagen Boy's Choir.
This led to studies at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, from which he
attained his diploma in 2004, and subsequently to further studies at the Opera
Academy of the Royal Danish Theatre, from which he graduated in 2007. Furthermore, he has studied privately with
Hervé Niquet in Paris.
In 2006,
Jakob Bloch Jespersen made his debut at the Royal Danish Theatre as Angelotti
in Puccini's TOSCA and participated in the DVD and TV recordings of Carl
Nielsen's Maskarade as Magister
Collatinus in Britten's Rape of Lucretia
at the intimate stage Takkelloftet, Basilio in Rossini's The Barber in Seville at The New Opera as well as roles in numerous
contemporary opera productions.
In spite of
his young age, Jakob Bloch Jespersen has made his mark as a vocalist, both at
home and abroad, with a repertoire stretching from baroque music to first
performances of contemporary composers. This has lead him to a number of the
leading concert halls of the world, such as Palais des Beaux Arts - Brussels,
The Carnegie Hall - New York and Sala Sao Paulo - Brazil and to international
festivals for early and contemporary music, among others Ambronay Festival -
France, Berliner Festspiele and Stimmen Festival - Germany, and Sacrum Profanum
- Krakow, Poland.
In the
early repertoire, Jakob Bloch Jespersen has worked with Concerto Copenhagen,
Arte Dei Suonatori, and Ars Nova Copenhagen on several occasions under the
direction, among others, of Paul Hillier and Lars Ulrik Mortensen. In the
contemporary repertoire, he has worked, among others in cooperation with
ensembles such as The Theatre of Voices, I Solisti del Vento, Figura Ensemble
and the Athelas Sinfonietta in works by Cage, Berio, Crumb, Pärt, Stockhausen,
David Lang, and Liu Sola.
Moreover,
Jakob Bloch Jespersen has appeared in a long list of the larger oratorio works
with several of the Danish regional orchestras, The Scottish Chamber Orchestra,
Leipziger Kammerorchester, The Danish Radio Sinfonietta, and The Copenhagen
Philharmonic Orchestra with conductors such as Adam Fischer, Michael
Schšnwandt, Jim Wang, Thomas Søndergaard, Morten Schuldt Jensen, Tobias Ringborg
and Giordano Bellincampi.
Jakob Bloch
Jespersen features on several CD recordings: among others Bach-cantatas
withConterto Copenhagen and Anne Sofie von Otter for Deutsche Gramophone, David
Lang Little Match Girl Passion and
Berio A-Ronne with The Theatre of
Voices for Harmonia Mundi, Kurt Weill Von
Tod im Wald and Berliner Requiem with
The Flemish Radio Choir and I Solisti del Vento for Glossa and Schütz The Seven Last Words of Jesus Christ and
Lukas and Johannes Passions with Ars Nova and Concerto Copenhagen for Dacapo.
In
addition, Jakob Bloch Jespersen has a particular interest in doing recitals,
and he regularly performs several of the major works of the lieder-genre, such
as Schumann's Liederkreis, op.39 and Schubert's Winterreise.