Lucas Jussen / Arthur Jussen / Amsterdam Sinfonietta BACH

                                                                           BACH

Arthur Jussen / Lucas Jussen SCHUBERT Impromptus

Last year, the brothers Arthur (18) and Lucas (14) Jussen amazed the (inter)national classical world with their mature interpretations of the Beethoven piano sonatas. The album got platinum the very same year. On their new CD the brothers have literally joined hands for playing Schubert’s Impromptus, a series of works for solo piano, as well as his Fantasy in F minor and Four Polonaises – both composed for quatre mains (four-handed). Again Arthur and Lucas Jussen have achieved absolute sublime performances. Technically gifted, but – even more important – music of flesh and blood with a soul entirely in the spirit of the Austrian composer. Stilled, melancholic, full of joy and passion – the emotions the works of Schubert evoke are coloured with the brothers’ splendid and personal authentic style. In one word: phenomenal. (Algemeen Dagblad - September 2011)

Lucas Jussen / Arthur Jussen SAINT-SAËNS - POULENC - SAY

The Jussen brothers were born into a musical family. Their father Paul Jussen is a timpani player with the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in the Netherlands and their mother Christianne van Gelder is a flautist and teacher. “Music was always there and we often joined them when they had rehearsals or when there was a night concert,” says Lucas. “The hall where our father rehearses is very close to our house, so whenever there was a great soloist or a nice conductor we were free to come and listen. So we did many times. So there wasn’t really any escaping from it. And we’re happy about that.” 

After winning young musical talent awards and doing well in piano competitions, the brothers studied in Portugal and Brazil in 2005 with master pianist Maria João Píres. Dutch teacher Jan Wijn then took them under his wing. Recently, Lucas studied with Menahem Pressler in the US and Dmitri Bashkirov in Madrid, while Arthur continued with Wijn at the Amsterdam Conservatory. “We still visit him often when we need help, when we need to prepare new pieces, and he’s a huge help, but we’re not anymore connected to an institute, like a real school,” says Lucas.

Arthur Jussen / Lucas Jussen BEETHOVEN Piano Sonatas

At the start of it all Arthur and Lucas Jussen talking about Beethoven.
　　 With looks that could make many a young lady’s heart go pitty-pat, the two Jussen brothers, Arthur and Lucas, could easily be confused with two heartbreakers from a British boy band. And, having said that ‘we also like listening to something else sometimes,’ the iPods of these young pianists contain not a single note of classical music. The name of their big MP3 hero isn’t Beethoven but Stevie Wonder, and both are crazy about Marvin Gaye and Frank Sinatra. But when sitting down to talk with them about the repertoire for their debut CD, you can’t help but see a metamorphosis take place. Suddenly glowing in the eyes of what you thought were pop stars is the burning ambition of the classical musician bound and determined to follow his mission. Beethoven! Mozart! Chopin! They never run out of things to say about these old masters, and their enthusiasm is definitely infectious.
　　 In a restaurant on the banks of the IJ in Amsterdam, they don’t mind talking about how they selected their repertoire: Beethoven and only Beethoven! First, however, it’s time to wash down some snacks with a Coke. Then, after his last sip, Arthur wants to emphasise that, ‘first of all, they’re all wonderful pieces.’ What’s more, they’re also pieces that are related to one another. ‘I play Sonata Number 13, Opus 27, Number 1. Lucas plays Sonata Number 14, Opus 27, Number 2 – the Moonlight Sonata. These two alone are a beautiful pair. I also play Sonata Number 5, Opus 10, Number 1, also known as the “Little Pathétique”, and Lucas plays Sonata Number 8, Opus 13, or the actual Pathétique. So here we have another natural pair. And they’re all Beethoven, of course. What we wanted was a relationship among the pieces, not just any old programme. To achieve this, we really thought hard about it with Maria João Pires.’
　　Arthur and Lucas flatly reject the idea that a programme made up entirely of Beethoven might be rather heavy for two young guys living in the 21st century. ‘None of these are Beethoven’s later pieces,’ says Arthur. ‘He wrote Opus 10 when he was still young. So that means we can play that music at our age, too. On the other hand, we wouldn’t have risked playing the much later sonatas, Opus 110 or 111.’
　　 Beethoven’s first work was published in 1782 when he was just 12 years old. And he was only 14 when he was appointed court organist. Can you two living in the 21st century imagine yourselves in the shoes of the gifted Ludwig when he was your age?
　　Arthur: ‘Not as a composer. I can’t compose at all. I’ve tried it sometimes but never succeeded. So as far as that’s concerned, it’s difficult for me to put myself in his place. For me, it’s mostly a question of practising and trying over and over to understand why he wrote certain parts as he did.’
　　Lucas: ‘But what you try to do is include what you know about Beethoven in the way you play. Take his earliest sonata that Arthur plays – the one he composed around 1796. Here, you can hear that he’s still heavily influenced by Mozart. He may insert his own ideas into the music, but he’s still modelling his composition closely to the pattern that then applied to composing classical music. But in the Pathétique – Opus 13 – that he wrote two years later if I remember rightly, you immediately hear the real Beethoven starting to come through. And that’s an awareness you have to have to play that sonata.’
　　 Do you see the fact that you are so young as being a handicap?
　　Arthur: ‘Sometimes. With Jan Wijn I started playing Opus 118, six pieces for piano, by Johannes Brahms, for example, because I thought it was so beautiful. Technically, it’s not at all difficult to play – but that’s not all. It’s actually a piece I can’t really play yet because it’s a piece in which so many emotions come together – feelings you can’t really understand until you’ve experienced a lot more of life. But at our age, we’re at the start of it all. I don’t feel this when I’m playing – at that time, I’m simply concentrated on playing my best. But afterward, when I hear Maria João Pires play it, that’s when I hear the difference. That’s why you have to understand everything to play a piece like that, out of respect for the music. After all, those emotions are so much a part of that music.’
　　 Do you catch yourself thinking, ‘Oh, Pires does it that way!’ So next you try to play a piece just like she demonstrated…’
　　Lucas: ‘Yes, but that’s just it: great pianists don’t need a model in order to rehearse a piece. I rehearsed the Pathétique almost entirely on my own; even the first time I played it for Pires, there was already a kind of goodness in it. But that’s just not possible with certain pieces. OK, if she says, “Do it exactly this way,” it’s no problem. But that’s not what it’s about, of course. That’s not how it works. Six months later, you’ve forgotten the kind of emotion associated with it.’
　　Arthur: ‘You shouldn’t be an imitator. It has to come from within yourself. Otherwise, you’re just playing without personality, and that’s not what’s intended, of course.’
　　 What made you decide that you actually were ready for the recording of this album?
　　We were offered the opportunity to record a CD-album before. At that time we declined as we considered ourselves too young. But now it’s different. Maria João Pires has lots of experience with recording CDs: she wouldn’t let us do something if we weren’t ready for it. Our teachers support us, and that support is what makes us feel confident enough to take this big step. That and the fact that these are pieces that we have made entirely our own.’
　　 On the album cover, you already look a little like pop stars. How much chance is there that you’ll start a rock band in a couple of years?
　　Lucas: ‘A big chance!’
　　Arthur: L’ucas also plays electric and bass guitar.’
　　Lucas: ‘And Arthur’s going to buy a set of drums.’
　　Arthur: ‘We think that would be so much fun to do. It’s not a question of limiting ourselves to one thing or another. We both think that playing the piano is the greatest thing in the world. But we also like to play tennis or football. And we’ll just keep on doing so, too. After all, if we didn’t, what kind of a life would we have?’
　　 (Ruud Meijer)

Lucas & Arthur Jussen MOZART Double Piano Concertos

‘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 the press and audience. 

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.

Besides their orchestral concerts, the brothers are also known and celebrated for their recitals. They performed in both the Master Pianists and Robeco series of the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam) and have performed for the former Dutch queen Beatrix on several occasions. In 2014, Lucas and Arthur accompanied Dutch king Willem-Alexander and queen Maxima on their first official visit to Poland. They have performed in most concert halls in the Netherlands and have given recitals in concert halls and festivals across Europe, such as the Herkulessaal (Munich), Schloss Elmau, Rheingau Music Festival and the famous Festival de Piano de La Roque d'Anthéron. International tours also brought them beyond Europe to Japan (2012), China (2013) and South Korea (2014).

In 2010, Lucas and Arthur signed a record deal with Deutsche Grammophon. Their debut CD with works by Beethoven received platinum status and was awarded the Edison Klassiek Publieksprijs (audience award). After a successful Schubert recording (gold status), they dedicated their third CD Jeux to French piano music, with works by Fauré, Ravel and Poulenc. In October 2015, their fourth CD will be 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. 

In the 2015/2016 season, Lucas and Arthur will perform several concerts in the Netherlands, as well as recitals in Germany, Japan, Korea, Russia and Mexico. Moreover, they will return to The Hague Philharmonic Orchestra, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker and the South Netherlands Philharmonic. This season, Arthur will also undertake a tour through the Netherlands and Europe with the Netherlands Student Orchestra, conducted by Bas Wiegers. Lucas is artist-in-residence at the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra. 

Lucas studied with Menahem Pressler in the US and Dmitri Bashkirov at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid, where he was presented with the prize for ‘Best piano trio school year 2013/2014’ by the Spanish queen Sofia. Arthur studies with Jan Wijn at the Amsterdam Conservatory.