Candida Thompson © Marco Borggreve

Candida Thompson is known for her extraordinary musical communication and honest musicianship. Her curiosity and research led her to pioneering programmes and collaborations crossing boundaries of culture, time and genre.

Candida studied violin with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music in London and completed them at the Banff Center for the Arts in Canada. An invitation for a series of masterclasses and concerts with Isaac Stern played an important role in her musical development. Candida has been invited in a play/direct role with groups such as the Chamber orchestra of Europe, City of London Sinfonia, Guildhall string ensemble, Camerata Nordica, Moscow chamber orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Salzburg Camerata. In 2005 she became artistic director of Amsterdam Sinfonietta; a top notch string ensemble with an international focus and reputation. Play/directing the ensemble she has established a well attended adventurous concert series in the Netherlands which frequently tours Europe, South America, China and Australia and has recorded CDs for Deutsche Gramophon, Sony, Decca, ECM and has a long relationship with Channel Classics.

Chamber music is always at the core of her musical activities. Performing with kindred musical spirits like Bruno Giuranna, Fazil Say, Xenia Yankovich, Victor Julien-Laferrière, Iris Juda and Janine Jansen, she shaped her musical taste and standard. Candida is invited to festivals such as the Kuhmo Festival in Finland, Ernen Festival in Switzerland, La musica Sarasota in the US, ‘Harriet & Friends’ in Austria and also performed at the Utrecht Kamermuziek Festival.

Most recently Candida, Harriet Krijgh and pianist Magda Amara also performed at the the Schubertiade in Hohenems. In 2022 Candida and Harriet founded a festival Heuvelrug Chamber Music in Holland where they are joint ‘Artistic leaders’.

As a strong advocate for the heritage of classical music but also with a keen interest in today’s cultural developments Candida seeks artistic dialogue. This leads to compelling projects involving living composers such as Jorg Widmann, Thomas Larcher, Michel van der Aa, but also involving philosophers, photographers, urban dancers, actors and light designers. Because Candida values the development of younger musicians highly, she is a regular guest at institutions like Villa Musica Chamber Music in Germany or the Guildhall School in London to coach and play with young talents.

Candida plays on a Guarneri, del Gesù (1698-1744) kindly on loan from a private collector.

SEASON 2023/2024 - THIS BIOGRAPHY IS AVAILABLE BY COURTESY OF THE AMSTERDAM SINFONIETTA

© Marco Borggreve

Lucas and Arthur Jussen are among the most sought-after piano duos of our time. In view of their illustrious international career, one could remark that the Jussen brothers (30 and 26) are the Netherland’s pre-eminent ambassadors for classical music. With their energetic, almost symbiotic playing, their great refinement of sound and gripping interpretations, they are praised vigorously by press and audiences alike. ‘It is like driving a pair of BMWs’, exclaimed conductor Michael Schønwandt about the two pianists after directing them in concert.

The Jussen brothers have performed with eminent orchestras internationally, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra and The Philadelphia Orchestra, Concertgebouworkest, Budapest Festival Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, as well as the Montréal, Sydney, Singapore and Shanghai Symphony Orchestras. They collaborate with the likes of renowned conductors such as Andris Nelsons, Christoph Eschenbach, Iván Fischer, Sir Neville Marriner, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Jaap van Zweden.

In August 2023, Lucas and Arthur Jussen performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Kazuki Yamada at the Tanglewood Festival. This will be followed by festival appearances at the Rheingau Musik Festival, Gstaad and Amsterdam. With the Sinfonieorchester Basel they open the 2023/24 concert season in the city of Basel. Further highlights of the new season include debuts with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Wiener Symphoniker, Philharmonia Orchestra London and Taiwan Philharmonic. Other guest engagements take them back to the Münchner Philharmoniker, WDR Sinfonieorchester, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. They perform the concerto "Anka kuşu" (Phoenix), written for them by Fazıl Say, with the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and on tour with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta. Touring projects take them around Europe along with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. This season they are "Artists in Residence" with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi. In recital they can be heard in Hamburg, Berlin, Bratislava, Prague, Antwerp, Brussels, Chicago, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Recording exclusively with Deutsche Grammophon since 2010, their debut recording with works by Beethoven received platinum status and was awarded the Edison Klassiek audience award. A Schubert recording and Jeux, a recording dedicated to French piano music, were subsequently released. Their recording of Mozart’s piano concertos KV 365 and KV 242 together with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Sir Neville Marriner reached gold status. The Jussen brothers also recorded Poulenc’s double piano concerto and Saint-Saëns’ ‘The Carnival of the Animals’ with the Concertgebouworkest and Stéphane Denève, as well as concertos and chorales by Bach with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta. On "The Russian Album" (March 2021) they interpret works for two pianos by Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky and Arensky. The latest addition to their discography is "Dutch Masters" (April 2022) which is devoted to works by Dutch composers, in collaboration with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Karina Canellakis. The recording was awarded an Edison Klassiek in the category "Chamber Music", as well as the audience award in September 2022.

Lucas and Arthur received their first piano lessons in their native town of Hilversum. As children, they were invited to perform for the Dutch Queen Beatrix. Then distinctions and awards in competitions followed. In 2005, the brothers met the Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires. During the following years they took lessons from both Pires and renowned Dutch teachers. Lucas completed his studies with Menahem Pressler in the US and with Dmitri Bashkirov in Madrid. Arthur graduated from the Amsterdam Conservatory, where he studied with Jan Wijn.

SEASON 2023/2024