Performance
Jakob Fichert’s solo repertoire ranges from renaissance to contemporary. He premiered numerous works by composers such as Deborah Pritchard, Tom Armstrong, Robert Fokkens, and most recently Paul Engel, Carlos Zamora and Steve Crowther — most of these works are dedicated to Jakob. His recitals include great works from the canon as well as hidden gems, often neglected in concert programmes.
Playing solo works has always been a core part of Jakob’s performing life. During the years of lockdown — Jakob was also recovering from a serious accident involving multiple fractures in wrist and hand in those years — he built up new and revisited old repertoire, presenting this in over 10 privately held and 4 publicly streamed online-concerts. Coming out of lockdown he has started to perform to live audiences again in the UK, Austria, Germany and Chile.
Jakob has undertaken numerous projects on solo repertoire, most recently on Liszt’s Années de Pélerinage, performing each of the three cycles in traditional recital format as well as in collaboration with actor Emma Frankland (Première Année) and alongside newly commissioned works by Desmond Clarke, Frederik Viner and Robert Fokkens (Deuxième Année). Other projects include the complete piano works of Adolf Busch and various programmes featuring music by Max Reger.
photo: Tomasz Kwiatkowski
Collaborative Performance
Born into an artistic family – and inspired by the many string quartet evenings of his violinist grandfather – Jakob Fichert’s active engagement with chamber music goes back to his teenage years. In 1987, at the age of thirteen, he won the German Youth Competition Jugend Musiziert in Piano Trio together with siblings Manuela and Matthias Gredler – the latter still being one of Jakob’s regular duo partners today. Jakob continued to play piano trio throughout his student years and co-founded the Trio Belle Epoque whilst at the RCM. This group was awarded a Junior Fellowship from 2001-2003 whilst winning prizes at the 2002 International Competitioin Sergey Taneev and the Tunnell Trust.
More recently, numerous collaborations with chamber partners such as Janet Hilton, Karin de Fleyt, Simon Desbruslais, Alfia Nakipbekova, Eleanor Hodgkinson, Pavlos Carvalho and Matthias Gredler have enriched Jakob’s musical life. Chamber music highlights of 2022 include a tour to Germany and Austria celebrating the works of composer Paul Engel. Numerous chamber concerts are scheduled for 2023, amongst these are recitals with the clarinettist Bettina Beigelbeck celebrating Max Reger’s 150th birthday.
