Born in Berlin, the tenor Jan Kobow has been a recognised figure in the music world since winning first prize in the 1998 Leipzig Bach Competition. He has established an international reputation as an interpreter of Baroque music and has been invited to perform worldwide by such conductors as Masaaki Suzuki, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Sigiswald Kuijken, Philippe Herreweghe, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Gustav Leonhardt, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Frans Brüggen, Jos van Immerseel, and Philippe Pierlot. Jan Kobow has appeared as a featured soloist on nearly 100 recordings, and has nine solo albums to his credit, including Schubert’s three song cycles with Kristian Bezuidenhout and Christoph Hammer. He has also recorded songs by Felix Mendelssohn, Siegmund von Seckendorff, Johann Krieger, Carl Loewe, and John Dowland, and more Schubert lieder with the pianists Cord Garben and Ludger Rémy.
He recently took part in the video recording of Bach’s complete works, All of Bach, with the Netherlands Bach Society. He has also recorded standard works including Haydn’s Die Schöpfung and Die Jahreszeiten and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, St John Passion, and B minor Mass.
Jan Kobow has appeared in various Baroque operas around the world including productions at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels and Lincoln Center in New York City. Most recently his portrayal of the title role in Boxberg’s Sardanapalus at the Wilhelma-Theater in Stuttgart was a great success. Audiences have particularly delighted in his comic turns in Franz Lehár’s operetta Die blaue Mazur and Johann Conradi’s Ariadne. He also has an outstanding reputation as an ensemble singer and is a founding member of the vocal group Die Himlische Cantorey, which has recorded ten CDs. Other collaborations include recordings with Gli Angeli Genève and Weser-Renaissance Bremen. His engagements for the 2014/15 season include the Bachwoche 2015 in Ansbach, a tour of the Netherlands in Bach’s B minor Mass with Concerto Copenhagen, Bach’s St John Passion in Stuttgart, and another tour with the Ensemble Jacques Moderne (Monaco, Paris etc.). As a lieder singer he appears with Christoph Hammer at the Fränkische Sommer (Die schöne Müllerin) and with Burkhard Kehring at AMUZ in Antwerp (Krenek and Weill songs).
In his home town of Schloss Seehaus, Jan Kobow hosts an annual concert series and conducts vocal masterclasses to share his knowledge and love of music.
