Jannis Lichtenfels - Percussionist

Jannis Lichtenfels was born in Heidelberg in 1999. At the age of six, he began taking his first drum lessons at the Mosbach Municipal Music School with Wessela-Kostowa-Giesecke. After completing his A-levels, he began his bachelor’s degree in 2018 at the Saar University of Music in Saarbrücken under Prof. Thomas Keemss, MaNhias Weißenauer and Mar=n Hennecke. During this time, he initially gained experience as an intern with the Trier Philharmonic Orchestra, before taking up a fixed-term contract there as a percussionist and timpanist for the subsequent 2021/22 season. He also gained further experience through masterclasses with Franz Lang, Guido Marggrander and Jochen Schorer, amongst others.
After completing his bachelor’s degree in Saarbrücken, he won the audition for the Percussion Academy with the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra at the end of 2023, where he served as an academy member until August 2025.
Shortly after beginning his time at the academy there, he simultaneously continued his Master’s studies at the Robert Schumann University of Music in Düsseldorf under Prof. Peter Stracke. Since the start of the 2025/26 season, Jannis Lichtenfels has been an academy member with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra.