Jakob Lindberg was born in Djursholm in Sweden and developed his first passionate interest in music
through the Beatles. He started to play the guitar and soon became interested in the classical repertoire.
From the age of fourteen he studied with Jörgen Rörby who also gave him his first tuition on the lute.
After reading music at Stockholm University, he went to London to study at the Royal College of Music,
where he further developed his knowledge of the lute repertoire under the guidance of Diana Poulton and
decided towards the end of his studies to concentrate on renaissance and baroque music; he is now one of the most
prolific performers in this field.
Jakob has made numerous recordings for BIS, many of which are pioneering in that they present a wide range of
music on CD for the first time. He has brought Scottish lute music to public attention, demonstrated the beauty
of the Italian repertoire for chitarrone and recorded chamber music by Vivaldi, Haydn and Boccherini on period instruments.
He is the first lutenist to have recorded the complete solo lute music by John Dowland and his 1992 recording
of Bach's music for solo lute is considered to be one of the most important readings of these works.
Some of the most recently released are:
Italian Virtuosi of the Chitarrone
Jacobean Lute Music
Nocturnal (including a recording on the lute of Benjamin Britten’s Nocturnal Op. 70)
Jan Antonin Losy – note d’oro
Bach on the Rauwolf Lute
An active continuo player on the theorbo and arch lute, Jakob has worked with many well-known English
ensembles including The English Concert, Taverner Choir, The Purcell Quartet, Monteverdi Choir, Chiaroscuro,
The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and The Academy of Ancient Music. He is also in demand as an accompanist
and has given many recitals with Emma Kirkby. He assisted Andrew Parrott in the musical direction of Purcell’s Dido
and Aeneas given by The Royal Swedish Opera at Drottningholm Court Theatre in 1995, and also directed from the
chitarrone the much-acclaimed performances of Jacopo Peri’s Euridice given there in 1997.
It is particularly through his live solo performances that he has become known as one of the finest
lutenists in the world today, with concerts all over the globe from Tokyo and Beijing in the East to
San Francisco and Mexico City in the West.
In addition to his busy life as a performer, Jakob Lindberg teaches at the Royal College of Music in London
where he succeeded Diana Poulton as professor of lute in 1979.
