Annie Jacobs-Perkins to become new cellist

Annie Jacobs-Perkins to become new cellist with the Ensemble Modern

As of January 1, 2026, the Ensemble Modern will have a new cellist. In a multi-stage selection process, the members of the Ensemble Modern chose Annie Jacobs-Perkins from the United States. In 2024, she won first prize in the Buchet International Cello Competition (›Prix Buchet‹), and in 2023 the Pierre Fournier Award. Highlights of her 2025/26 season include her recital debut at the Sydney Opera House, her concerto debut with the Austin Symphony Orchestra, the release of her first solo album on the Champs Hill label and the release of a piano trio album with Trio Brontë on the Solo Musica label.

Annie Jacobs-Perkins was Artist-in-Residence at the Austin Chamber Music Centre in Texas from 2023 to 2025 and is the cellist of the Berlin-based piano trio Trio Brontë. She regularly participates in festivals such as Krzyżowa Music, Ravinia Steans Music Institute, Yellow Barn and Marlboro Music, where she has collaborated with artists such as Miriam Fried, Viviane Hagner, Nobuko Imai, Anthony Marwood, Donald Weilerstein and members of the Brentano, Doric, Juilliard, Kuss and Verona string quartets. She has performed at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Centre in New York, the Flagey Studios in Brussels, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Koninklijk Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Wigmore Hall in London, among others.

Annie Jacobs-Perkins holds an Artist Diploma from the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin, master‘s degrees from the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler and the New England Conservatory, and a bachelor's degree from the University of Southern California. Her primary teachers were Frans Helmerson, Troels Svane, Laurence Lesser, Ralph Kirshbaum, and Kathleen Murphy Kemp. Other important influences include Guy Fishman, David Geringas, Geoff Dyer, and Thomas Gustafson.

»We consider ourselves fortunate to have such an outstanding cellist join our ensemble. Annie brings fresh energy to the group and has an impressive musical presence,« says Paul Cannon, double bassist with the Ensemble Modern. Fellow cellist and board member Eva Böcker adds: »I look forward to welcoming such a brilliant and expressive musician and warm-hearted personality to our ensemble.«

Annie Jacob-Perkins is »most looking forward to learning from and working with colleagues and composers I have admired already for many years. Being a part of this living art form changes the way that I hear, make, and consume music, and I can't wait to be shaped as a musician by the Ensemble's unique voice.«

Annie Jacobs-Perkins can also be heard before January 1, 2026, in the following concerts by the Ensemble Modern: on September 24, 2025, at Warsaw Autumn, on November 9, 2025, at the Philharmonie Essen and at the concerts marking Helmut Lachenmann's 90th birthday on November 19, 2025, at the Kölner Philharmonie, on November 26, 2025, at the Alte Oper Frankfurt, on November 29, 2025, at the Elbphilharmonie, and on December 2, 2025, at the Oper Frankfurt.

https://www.ensemble-modern.com/en/about-us/members/annie-jacobs-perkins