Fred Jacobs was born in 1961 in Asten, Netherlands, and died in Amsterdam on 28 August 2025. He studied lute and theorbo from 1980 to 1985 at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam with Anthony Bailes. In 1986 he studied with Gusta Goldschmidt. In 1985 he founded The Locke Consort. He was also a member of several baroque ensembles, including the Gabrieli Consort & Players and the Netherlands Bach Society’s baroque orchestra. From 1995 he taught lute and theorbo at the Amsterdam Conservatory.

Fred Jacobs was the regular accompanist of several singers, including Johannette Zomer, Anne Azéma, Michael Chance, Max van Egmond and Maarten Koningsberger. With the soprano Johannette Zomer, with whom he formed a duo from 2001 to 2007, he recorded for the Dutch label Channel Classics a series devoted to seventeenth-century song. His recordings with Zomer include Splendore di Roma (2003), Nuove Musiche (2005) and L’esprit Galant (2007), featuring works by composers including Kapsberger and Caccini.

Sources:

• https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Jacobs
• https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19628717