Initially, Jan Schlichte played the piano. Because of his ability to read music well, the music teacher at his school asked him to take over at percussion for the school’s youth orchestra. In 1991 he began his studies in Frankfurt, later transferring to the Trossingen Conservatory, where his teachers included Franz Lang and Rainer Seegers, timpanist of the Berlin Philharmonic. Seegers was, along with Franz Schindlbeck, also his teacher in the Philharmonic’s Orchestra Academy.

Before joining the Berlin Philharmonic, Schlichte acquired extensive orchestral experience by playing in, among other ensembles, the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra. He has a particular interest in contemporary chamber music with piano and percussion. Jan Schlichte is also a founding member of the Berlin ensemble KlangArt and he plays in the Berlin Chamber Ensemble for New Music as well as the Scharoun Ensemble. As a teacher, he has also been involved in the important music-pedagogical project in Venezuela.