PIANO DUO | BROTHERS JUSSEN
1. February, Friday - 19:00, 2019

PIANO DUO | BROTHERS JUSSEN

Organised by: Koncertzāle Cēsis

‘It is like driving a pair of BMWs’ remarked conductor Michael Schønwandt, after directing the Dutch brothers Lucas and Arthur Jussen. Despite their young age, they have been taking part in the international concert world for years. Whether they perform as a duo or as soloists, Lucas and Arthur are praised by both press and audiences.

Lucas and Arthur received their first piano lessons from Leny Bettman in their native town of Hilversum. In 2001, Lucas (1993) reached the finale of the Three-day Rotterdam Piano Festival and in 2004, Arthur (1996) was chosen as ‘Young Musical Talent of the Year’ at the National Contest of the Young Musical Talent Foundation. 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: Piano pedagogue Jan Wijn took them under his wing, and with Ton Hartsuiker they broadened their knowledge of 20th-century music. In 2011, Lucas and Arthur received the first ever Concertgebouw Young Talent Award, and in 2013 they won the Audience Award of the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Lucas and Arthur have performed with nearly all Dutch orchestras, among which the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Rotterdam and The Hague Philharmonic orchestras, and the Radio Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra. They have also performed with acclaimed international orchestras, among others the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, London Chamber Orchestra, MDR Sinfonie Orchester and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. They have worked with conductors for example Jaap van Zweden, Claus Peter Flor, Elihu Inbal, Jan Willem de Vriend, Stéphane Denève, James Gaffigan, Sir Neville Marriner and Frans Brüggen. Moreover, they have collaborated with several renowned musicians such as Chinese star pianist Lang Lang, with whom Lucas shared the stage during the Prinsengracht Concert in Amsterdam in 2006. In October 2013, Lucas and Arthur performed the world première of Together, a work for two pianos written for them especially by Theo Loevendie.