Lucas and Arthur Jussen

Dutch brothers and piano duo partners Lucas and Arthur Jussen are lauded on the world’s great stages as ‘formidable storytellers’ (Tagesspiegel). Protégés of Maria João Pires, the Jussen brothers signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon in 2010 and have since recorded nine albums. They have appeared as soloists with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony, among others. The Jussens will be heard throughout the 2025/2026 season in the US, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

The Jussen brothers’ program will first give an account of the genre's origins with music by composers who became important advocates of the piano duo. Mozart’s duos constitute some of the earliest writing for this instrumentation, while Schubert’s numerous works for four hands and Mendelssohn’s sparkling contributions reflect a nineteenth century salon culture and increasing access to pianos in middle-class homes.

For their second half, the Jussens leave the Viennese salon for Paris and the ballet. Igor Stravinsky’s inflammatory The Rite of Spring – which brought the Théâtre des Champs Élysées audience to blows at its ballet premiere – first appeared for piano four hands and was given a memorable reading by the composer and Claude Debussy in 1913. In 2026 – one hundred and thirteen years later – Lucas and Arthur Jussen deliver their interpretation of this raw, elemental musical drama, in the form that Stravinsky first heard his creation performed.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
Sonata for Four Hands in D, KV. 381

Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
Fantasie in F minor, D. 940

Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)
Andante and Allegro Brilliant for Four Hands

INTERVAL

Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971)
Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) (Version for Four Hands)