Lucas and Arthur Jussen will debut next week in Lisboa with the Gulbenkian Orchestra under Nuno Coelho. The concert will take place at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation next March 18th 2018. They will perform the W. A. Mozart’s Concert for two pianos KV. 365.
‘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 press and audiences.
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.
Lucas and Arthur have performed with nearly all Dutch orchestras, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Netherlands Chamber Orchestra. They also perform with acclaimed international orchestras such as the Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony, BBC Concert Orchestra, Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Iceland, Dallas, Shanghai, Sydney Symphony orchestras, Hong Kong Philharmonic, MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig and Camerata Salzburg. Conductors they have worked with include Valery Gergiev, Jaap van Zweden, Sir Neville Marriner, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Markus Stenz, Claus Peter Flor, Eliahu Inbal, Jan Willem de Vriend, Stéphane Denève, James Gaffigan and Frans Brüggen. They have also collaborated with several renowned musicians such as the Chinese star pianist Lang Lang.
In recital they performed in both the Master Pianists and Robeco series of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. They have played in concert halls and festivals across Europe, such as the Herkulessaal (Munich), Rheingau Musik Festival, Festival de Piano de La Roque d’Anthéron, Holland Festival and Malmö Chamber Music Festival, as well as the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg. International tours brought them further afield to Japan (2012), China (2013) and South Korea (2014). Lucas and Arthur accompanied Dutch king Willem-Alexander and queen Maxima on their first official visit to Poland in 2014, and also to Australia in 2016.
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. In October 2015, their fourth CD was released on which they perform Mozart’s piano concertos KV365 and KV242 together with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields under the baton of Sir Neville Marriner. The album reached gold status and was listed by Gramophone UK among ‘The 50 Greatest Mozart Recordings’. A new recording with works by Poulenc and Saint-Saëns was released in March 2017 (Concertgebouw Orchestra & Stéphane Denève). The recording of the Poulenc Double Concerto was chosen best recording of this piece ever made by the French radio programme “La tribune des critiques de disques”.
