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Jim Jacobson is currently principal timpanist of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra and the AIMS Festival Orchestra in Graz, Austria. As an orchestral musician he has been principal timpanist of the Delaware Symphony, principal percussionist of the Tallahassee Symphony, and has performed with the Minnesota, Jacksonville, Toledo, Columbus, Virginia, Key West, Lancaster and Stamford Symphonies, as well as the Bolshoi and Joffrey Ballet Orchestras.
Mr. Jacobson has appeared as soloist with the Richmond Symphony on two occasions, performing the Druchetzky Partita in C and the Schiff timpani concerto Speaking in Drums. He also premiered the opera Ligeia at the Evian Music Festival in Evian, France under Mstislav Rostropovich, attended the Aspen and Chautauqua music festivals for several years, and was a guest recitalist at the International Percussion Conference in Espinho, Portugal. His arrangement of Frank Zappa’s Peaches en Regalia for percussion ensemble has been performed at universities across the country. In the commercial music world, Jim has performed with David Byrne, Bob Berg, Lionel Hampton, and spent several years in Los Angeles producing pop music, riding motorcycles, and performing in the punk-rock band Big Fun.
Jim holds degrees from the University of Michigan, the University of Minnesota, and a doctorate from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University. He has also studied privately for several years in New York, Tokyo, and Berlin.