Star Dutch pianist-brothers Arthur and Lucas Jussen revisit Vancouver with verve
Joining VSO in concert, critially acclaimed siblings will perform Mendelssohn’s energetic Concerto for 2 Pianos in E Major
Lucas and Arthur Jussen. Photo by Marco Borggreve
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra presents Jussen Brothers Return on March 31 and April 1 at 8 pm at the Orpheum Theatre
ASK BROTHERS LUCAS and Arthur Jussen how they ended up pursuing careers travelling the globe together as concert, recital, and recording pianists and, like so many professional artists, they’ll say that coming from a musical family played a big part. Unlike most others, they also give some credit to the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
The siblings—who have appeared with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields as well as the Montreal, Sydney, Singapore, Boston, and Shanghai Symphony Orchestras, among many others, and who are making a return to Canada to join Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in concert this weekend—started taking piano lessons in their home town of Hilversum in the Netherlands when they were young. Lucas, the eldest, started first, at age five.
“Our mother plays flute, and our father is a timpani player in the orchestra, so music was always there and especially classical music,” Lucas shares in an interview with Stir. “It was in 1998 and actually it was because of football [that we started playing piano]. There was the world championship of football, and we love football as well. We watched all the games, and before every game, they played the national anthem of the Netherlands. The Dutch team went quite far that year, and we heard that anthem many times in that period. And coincidentally, our mother had a music book for children that included the national anthem, and she taught me to play that, and actually it went very well and I could play it quite fast. And then my parents asked me if I wanted to have piano lessons, and that’s basically how it started. And afterwards, Arthur joined as well because, he heard me practising every day, and I think he liked it as well. He was…”
“Inspired,” Arthur interjects. “I actually just wanted to be like my big brother. I heard him play every day, and, as a small brother, you look up to your big brother, and that’s what I wanted to do as well.
“The beautiful thing about piano is that of course you have the melody, but you also have the chords, and you have the bass, so even when you’re able to play a little bit, it already sounds quite beautiful,” Arthur adds. “We’ve always loved the sound of the piano and to this day, we still love it very much….In the end, it’s all about making the most beautiful music that is possible. Overall we’re still just amazed by the instrument and what it sounds like.”
Once the two started playing piano, it soon became evident that there was something special about their knack for it. They were still children when they were invited to perform for the Dutch Queen Beatrix. The siblings went on to study in Portugal and Brazil for nearly a year at the invitation of Portuguese master pianist Maria João Pires; later, in addition to training under renowned Dutch teachers, Lucas studied in the U.S. and Madrid while Arthur graduated from the Amsterdam Conservatory. Since then, guest engagements have taken them to Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London, Houston Symphony Orchestra, São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, and beyond. They are also artists in residence with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano and appeared at the 2022 Tanglewood Music Festival in Massachusetts.
As part of their 2023 touring schedule, the Jussen Brothers will join Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in concert on March 31 and April 1.
The pair will perform Mendelssohn’s Concerto for 2 Pianos in E Major. Conducted by VSO music director Otto Tausk, the concert also includes Linda Catlin Smith’s new Nuages, commissioned by the VSO, and Schumann’s Symphony No. 3.
Mendelssohn was just a teenager when he wrote the concerto in 1823. He first performed it that year with his sister, Fanny, in his father’s home.
“When you hear the piece, you cannot imagine that a 14- or 15-year-old can kid could write a piece like that,” Arthur says. “It’s really stunning. It's beautiful. It's virtuosic. It's also a bit naive. You can hear that it's a person with a lot of talent that is about to explode, but he doesn't know exactly how to limit his talent in a way that he did later on, when he was older and more mature.
“But there is so much energy, so much joy, so much happiness in the piece,” he adds. “Each time that we play it, even when we practise it alone, it gives us a happy feeling. We’ve been to Vancouver a few times now, and we’re very happy to be back, so that corresponds very well with this piece that is very, very joyful to play.”
When they’re not on the road, the Jussens record exclusively with Deutsche Grammophon. Their debut CD, featuring works by Beethoven, received platinum status and was awarded the Edison Klassiek audience award; their recording of Mozart’s piano concertos KV 365 and KV 242 with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Sir Neville Marriner reached gold status. On The Russian Album (2021), they interpret works for two pianos by Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, and Arensky. The latest addition to their discography is Dutch Masters (2022).
When asked if the two experience sibling rivalry, they both say they’re fortunate not to have that kind of relationship. “I do think that maybe we push each other’s limits a little bit,” Lucas says. “ I always know that Arthur is prepared 100 percent and that he plays fantastic. And because I have that in the back of my mind, I also always want to play 100 percent.
“And vice versa as well,” he adds. “So I think instead of it being a rivalry, it’s more the motivational relationship that we have, and it works very well. And sometimes we have small disagreements about, I don’t know, nuance or how a piece should be played, but actually not that much. I have to say that we’re really lucky in our opinions. We’re different persons, but in many things we’re also quite the same. So, so far so good, I would say.
After the duo’s performance in Vancouver, it’s off to Vienna to play Bartok’s Piano Concerto for Two Pianos, Percussion, Timpani and Orchestra; they then head home for some time off over Easter with their family. They just hope the sun comes out for their weekend on the West Coast. “We’re very happy to be coming back to Vancouver; we have very special memories of the city and the orchestra and the theatre,” Arthur says. “We feel very honoured to be back and we hope that people will enjoy.” Adds Lucas: “And we hope the weather is good because we’re coming from Brazil and we only took summer clothes!”
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