With more than 260 recordings to his credit and an intensive career as singer, conductor, scholar and teacher, René Jacobs has achieved an eminent position in the field of Baroque and Classical vocal music. He received his early musical education as a choirboy at St Bavo cathedral in his native city of Ghent. Remaining active as a singer during his university studies and degrees in Classical Philology, his encounters with Alfred Deller, Gustav Leonhardt and the Kuijken brothers were to determine his orientation towards Baroque music and specialization as countertenor, in which he very soon established his reputation as one of the most prominent singers of his time. In 1977 he founded the ensemble Concerto Vocale, exploring 17th century vocal chamber music and operatic repertoire and made a series of impressive recordings for Harmonia Mundi, many of them international award winning and “World Premieres”. René Jacobs made his debut as an opera conductor in 1983 with a production of Antonio Cesti’s Orontea at the Innsbrucker Festwochen, where later he held the position of artistic director from 1997 to 2009. His long and successful collaborations with the Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden as principal guest conductor since 1992, Theater an der Wien (Vienna) since 2006, Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie (Brussels) and other leading international stages and festivals have led him to conduct from Early Baroque to Rossini and from most unknown to most famous opera titles. His work as a conductor is distinctive for its pioneering spirit and his deep studies of historical sources have often resulted in outstanding interpretations remarkable for a unique fusion of scholarship and musical instinct. An example of such is his internationally acclaimed Mozart operas recordings. His Nozze di Figaro was rewarded by a Grammy as best opera and the prestigious Gramophone magazine (UK) quoted in an article: “René Jacobs’s Mozart opera series are one of the recorded marvels of our time”. Alongside to his extensive operatic activity, performing sacred music and oratorio on a regular basis has always been a very important part of Jacobs’ career. His recording of J.S. Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion (Echo Klassik Award 2014 in Germany) was celebrated as “making reference” in the recording history of this masterwork His latest recordings are including Mozart’s Entführung aus dem Serail published in September 2015 (Caecilia award for the best opera in 2015) and Johann Sebastian Bach’s Saint John Passion (released in March 2016). Elected Doctor Honoris Causa at the University of Ghent, René Jacobs has received the most prominent prizes from international Critics. At Holland Festival he has appeared in 2010 conducting Francesco Conti’s Don Chisciotte in Sierra Morena and in 2014 with Handel’s Orlando.