Born in Lörrach (Germany), received his first cello lessons in Basle and Zurich and studied in Freiburg with Christoph Henkel, Amsterdam with Anner Bijlsma and Fiesole with Amadeo Baldovino.
As founding member of the highly renowned Ensemble Recherche, Lucas has been actively involved in the development of contemporary chamber and ensemble music and has premiered several hundred compositions during his 21 years of membership.
He joined the Arditti Quartet in 2006; his discography with the quartet includes the complete string quartets by H. Lachenmann, P. Dusapin, J. Harvey, H. Birtwistle, R. Gerhard, B. Ferneyhough and B. Casablancas.
He has premiered the cello concertos by Wolfgang Rihm (Styx und Lethe, 1998), Walter Zimmermann (Subrisio Saltat, 2003), Sebastian Claren (After Blinky Palermo 2002), Mathias Spahlinger (Lamento, protokoll 2013) and others.
Lucas Fels has taught regularly at different conservatories and has lectured at Darmstädter Ferienkurse for 20 years.
Since 2013, he is Professor for “Interpretatorische Praxis und Vermittlung neue Musik“ at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt am Main