Four hands, one goal

Lucas and Arthur Jussen answer the questions for this portrait by voice message. They talk as densely and intensely as they play the piano. Neither interrupts the other, both build on each other. As on stage, they are a well-rehearsed duo. This approach is due to efficiency, as otherwise they would spend more time doing interviews than rehearsing, says Lucas Jussen. With around 100 concerts a year, they are likely to receive a considerable number of requests for interviews.

The two pianists are not only a duo, they are also brothers, born in 1993 and 1996. There is hardly a closer connection: they play together and give interviews together, and they are also heavily involved in planning their concerts, whose programmes they design themselves. Rehearsals only start later. This is another reason why it is important to them that the concert programme remains as unchanged as possible - again for practical reasons: "The problem is that we have a pretty full calendar and play a lot of repertoire in a mixed bag. If several changes are then made per recital, it becomes difficult to focus." Although they are not free to choose the venues where they perform, they still have a wide choice: The requests from concert organisers exceed their capacities - they are far from being able to accommodate them all.

Clear boundaries

With so many projects, performances, changes of location and programmes, it would be an understatement to talk about a varied daily routine. This makes the time outside of the concert world all the more important for the two of them. Only then can they really be siblings, says Lucas Jussen: "Even when we're off work and at home, we're together. That's the free time we miss out on when we work together." The boundaries are thus clearly drawn: they "love the concert life", but they also love the moments with each other, with their family, with their circle of friends. To this end, they also forgo leisure activities during their concert tours and focus on their programmes and performances instead of going for a walk in the Swiss Alps, for example.

But for the two of them, family means much more than enjoying relaxation and leisure time together. Music is also deeply rooted in them. From a very early age, they both experienced their mother teaching the flute at home. They attended orchestra rehearsals with their father, a timpanist in the radio orchestra in Holland: "That's how we learnt about the great symphonies from an early age. That's why classical music has always been very natural, very normal for us."

But they didn't just listen, they also played - and not just for themselves: the house concerts in their childhood were formative. "However small or unimportant it was, we always took it very seriously, actually just as seriously as we do now when we play a concert in the Tonhalle Zurich," explains Arthur Jussen. Now, as then, it is important for them to be as well prepared as possible, "so that we can look at ourselves in the mirror after the concert and say that we gave it our all".

Individual careers are not an issue

In their piano playing as a pair, with four hands, the two pursue one goal above all: together they want to sound like one pianist and develop a single voice. Arthur Jussen knows exactly what this means when he answers for both of them: "We don't need to push our own egos to achieve this." Of course they are different people, but they also want to "simply be a very good duo, and for that you have to adapt every second, adjust to the other every second". As siblings, they have an important advantage: "We've spent a lot of time together. We lived in the same house for 18 years, rehearsed together a lot and listened to each other a lot." Such experiences are hard to catch up on if you haven't experienced them from the start.

Their public appearances - and also their profiles on Instagram and Facebook - give the impression that they do everything together. But time alone also exists, for example when preparing for rehearsals: They rehearse their parts separately. Only when they have mastered them do they come together.

They have never thought about individual careers, there is too much to discover as a duo: "And by that I mean the concert halls, but also orchestras and a beautiful repertoire," says Lucas Jussen. Rather than breaking up their duo, they could imagine a career change - with a slight irony from Arthur Jussen: "We've always said we love restaurants, so maybe we'll open one together one day. But that's probably a romantic idea." At least one thing is clear: for the concert world, Lucas and Arthur Jussen only exist as a unique double act - both behind the microphone and on stage.

We use deepL.com for our translations into English.