Jakob Hultberg, born 1978 in Sweden finished his conducting studies in May 2010 with a diploma in orchestral conducting from The Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. He has since worked as conductor in Sweden and Denmark.
Originally trained as a percussionist, Jakob has studied choral and orchestral conducting, music theory and composition at the Gothenburg Academy of Music and Drama. At the academy he worked closely together with the new music department leading to numerous premieres of both orchestra and chamber pieces. His collaboration with the opera academy gave him the possibility to work intimately with the opera students and conducting several interesting productions with singers and orchestra, as well as premiering several operas.
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Parallel to opera conducting Jakob regularly conducts symphonic music and ensembles of contemporary music. In 2012 Jakob was one of the finalists, and eventually awarded shared second prize in the Swedish conducting competition ’SvenskaDirigentpriset’ Jakob has been awarded numerous scholarships, notably among them, he has for several successive years won the audition for the Conductor scholarship from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. From 2014 to 2018, Jakob held the position as Artistic Director and Chief conductor of the Chamber Choir Camerata, Copenhagen with which he conducted Bach Matthew Passion, Mozart Requiem twice, Tavener Requiem Fragments, a very much acclaimed yearly Handel Messiah, as well as numerous acappella-concerts. 2015 included his debut at the Royal Opera Copenhagen with the world premiere of Pelle Gudmundsen Holmgreen’s ’Sol går op, sol går ned’, as well as work as assistant conductor at La Monnaie in Brussels on their production of Verdi’s Un Ballo in maschera. In October 2015 Jakob made his debut at The Royal Ballet in Copenhagen and was reinvited to conduct Tchaikovsky Swan Lake in 16/17. The successful cooperation with the Royal Ballet has continued and in 17/18 Jakob was responsible for their repremieres of both Nutcracker and Swanlake, much appreciated by critics and audiences alike. In June 2016 he conducted a much appreciated Carmina Burana with Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and later these summer he premiered a well received new Hamlet opera with Nordic Opera/Athelas Sinfonietta at the Shakespeare festival in Helsinore, a production that also played on tour in Denmark. 2016-2018 included concert productions with Royal Philharmonic Stockholm, Norrköping SO, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Danish Radio SO, and South Denmark Philharmonic. In 17/18 Jakob was in charge of two major ballet productions at The Royal Ballet Copenhagen, Nutcracker and Swan Lake. He also worked with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Stockholm, Norrköping SO and Aarhus SO, and made his debut at Folkoperan, Stockholm. In the autumn of 2018 he conducted two productions at Malmö Opera, West Side Story and La Traviata, and was also invited to serve as House Conductor at the same theatre for the 19/20 season. Other highlights from the 18/19 season includes Jakob’s debut at the Stockholm Royal Opera, consisting of 20 performances of Nutcracker around Christmas 2018, Opera gala concerts at Malmö Opera, orchestral productions with Norrköping SO and Gävle SO and recording sessions with the Danish Radio SO. In the 19/20 season, Jakob, occupying the position as House Conductor at Malmö Opera, conducted many performances and worked on productions like Offenbach Orpheus in the Underworld, Britten A Midsummer Nights Dream, Fagerlund Autumn Sonata apart from conducting the Opera Orchestra in several concerts. Unfortunately some of these performances got cancelled due to the Corona Pandemic. In 2021 Jakob conducted the world premiere of Signe Lykkes opera Nordkraft at the Copenhagen Opera Festival, and in the Autumn he made his debut att the Danish National Opera/Jyske Opera in Verdis Aida. In the spring of 22 Jakob was musically responsible and conducted the co-production between Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and Helsingborg City Theatre of Peter Shaffers play Amadeus, a show with full orchestra on stage. Together the team including stage director Carl-Johan Karlson and set and costume designer Helle Damgaard created a performance with a moving orchestra integrated in the theatre play, which was well received by audience and press. The 22/23-season included among other things, productions with Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and Copenhagen Philharmonic. In June, Jakob will close the season with two big concerts at the Danish Radio Concert Hall with the DRSO and the Radio Choirs. Jakob is also currently launching his project Freedom in Sync. ”Freedom in Sync stands for a new approach to conducting film music concerts. Working with only visual cues, I can give your orchestra comfortable and smooth experience of playing to film, while still staying in sync with the picture. No click track is needed neither for me nor for the orchestra.”
