You realize that this is not usual. This is not just two good pianists playing together. They sense each other’s most small, individual a little bit of interpretation. Sir Neville Marriner
‘It is like driving a pair of BMWs’, remarked conductor Michael Schønwandt, after directing the Dutch brothers Lucas (25) and Arthur Jussen (21). Despite their young age, they have been part of the international concert world for years and are praised by both the press and audiences.
The Jussen brothers has performed with orchestras such as Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Danish National Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, as well as Dallas, Vancouver, Sydney and Shanghai Symphony Orchestras. They collaborated with conductors such as Stéphane Denève, Valery Gergiev, Sir Neville Marriner, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Jaap van Zweden.
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Highlights of the 19/20 season include their debut at the Salzburg Festival with the Mozarteumorchester and Adam Fischer as well as the season opening concert with Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons. The brothers also appear at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York and perform with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal at the Festival de Lanaudière for the first time in summer 2019. Lucas and Arthur Jussen can also be seen this season with orchestras including Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Munich Philharmonic, Orquestra Sinfónica de Galicia, Antwerp Symphony, Berner Symphonieorchester and Hungarian National Philharmonic, as well as on their Asia tour to Japan and Singapore in November 2019. Further highlights include a cycle of Beethoven piano concertos performed with the Camerata Salzburg in Rotterdam in March 2020, followed by a tour featuring the Bach double piano concertos with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta. In recitals, the duo performs in venues such as the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, Tonhalle Zürich, Wigmore Hall London, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and at the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg. As ‘Junge Wilde’ of the Konzerthaus Dortmund, the Jussen brothers will perform a variety of programmes at the Konzerthaus Dortmund over three seasons.
Lucas and Arthur received their first piano lessons in their native town of Hilversum. It became clear quickly that they were great talents. As children, they were already invited to perform for the Dutch queen Beatrix. First awards at competitions followed shortly. In 2005, the brothers studied in Portugal and Brazil for nearly a year at the invitation of Portuguese master pianist Maria João Pires. In the following years they took lessons from both Pires and two renowned Dutch teachers. Lucas completed his studies with Menahem Pressler in the US and Dmitri Bashkirov in Madrid. Arthur graduated from the Amsterdam Conservatory where he studied with Jan Wijn.
Recording exclusively with Deutsche Grammophon since 2010, their debut CD with works by Beethoven received platinum status and was awarded the Edison Klassiek audience award. A Schubert recording and their third CD Jeux, dedicated to French piano music, were subsequently released. Their recording of Mozart’s piano concertos KV365 and KV242 together with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields under the baton of Sir Neville Marriner reached gold status and was listed by Gramophone UK among ‘The 50 Greatest Mozart Recordings’. Also in their discography is a recording of Poulenc double piano concerto and Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals with Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Stéphane Denève. The duo looks forward to the release of their Bach recording with Amsterdam Sinfonietta in late September 2019.
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