Background
Possessing flawless technical mastery and a “beguiling silvery tone” (BBC Music Magazine), violinist Jack Liebeck’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.
Jack’s fascination with all things scientific has included performing the world premiere of Dario Marianelli Voyager Violin Concerto and collaborations with Professor Brian Cox. He programs his own annual festival – Oxford May Music – around the themes of music, science and the arts. A professional photographer, he loves film and can be heard in the soundtracks of The Theory of Everything, Jane Eyre and Anna Karenina. Jack is a professor of Violin at the Royal Academy of Music – tips include “sing your way to string perfection” (The Strad). Jack is also a member of Trio Dali described as “virtuosic brio…this is a group to watch” (The Australian).
A renowned soloist and chamber musician, Jack has performed with all the major British orchestras under conductors such as Andrew Litton, Leonard Slatkin, Karl-Heinz Steffens, Sir Mark Elder, and further afield with Royal Stockholm Philharmonic (Sakari Oramo), Swedish Radio (Daniel Harding), Oslo Philharmonic (Jukka Pekka Saraste), Belgian National, Polish Radio Symphony, Queensland Symphony, Moscow State Symphony, St Louis Symphony (David Robertson), Indianapolis Symphony (Douglas Boyd), Melbourne Symphony (Jakub Hrůša) among many others.
Collaborators throughout his career include internationally acclaimed artists such as Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Angela Hewitt, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Piers Lane, Julius Drake, Bengt Forsberg, Michael Collins, Ashley Wass and Katya Apekisheva.
Recent solo performances include concerts with BBC Ulster Orchestra, Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra at Cadogan Hall; a performance of ‘This is Rattle’ at LSO St Luke’s, Bruch’s Second Violin Concerto with Orpheus Sinfonia, Marianelli Voyager Concerto in Lucca, Italy, and a tour of Australia with the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. Jack also took part in the BBC Radio 3’s Wellcome Collection for the Wellcome Trust. Engagements include performances with the RPO (Mendelssohn) as well as recital and chamber tours throughout Australia, Sweden, Germany and Switzerland with a variety of different artists including Professor Brian Cox. Along with his own Oxford May Music Festival, Jack is the artistic director of the Desy Humboldt Science and Music Festival in Germany and Alpine Classic in Grindelwald, Switzerland. He co-curated the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s 2019 season.
In 2002, Jack released his debut album, Works for Violin & Piano with Katya Apekisheva on Quartz to critical acclaim (Telegraph’s CD of the Week and nominated for a Classical Brit Award). His next two recordings were for Sony Classics: Dvorak won Jack the 2010 Classical Brit Award – Young Artist of the Year, and his Brahms Violin Sonatas with pianist Katya Apekisheva was received with critical acclaim. “His tone is sweet and effortlessly expressive, his lyrical spans marked by many a tastefully judged portamento.” (Strad Magazine)
In 2014 Jack began his recording relationship with Hyperion Records with releases of Kreisler Violin Music, again with pianist Katya Apekisheva. His Bruch concerto series with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Martyn Brabbins received wide critical acclaim: “delightful mix of charm and bucolic spirit through Liebeck’s remarkable artistry and imagination” (The Telegraph).
Jack plays the 1785 ‘Ex-Wilhelmj’ J.B. Guadagnini and is generously loaned a Joseph Henry bow by Kathron Sturrock, in the memory of her late husband Professor David Bennett.