© 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

Christiane Karg © Gisela Schenker

Originally from Feuchtwangen in Bavaria, soprano Christiane Karg studied at the Mozarteum University Salzburg under Heiner Hopfner and as part of Wolfgang Holzmair’s Lied class, where she was additionally awarded the Lilli Lehmann Medal for her master's degree in opera/musical theatre. After making her debut at the Salzburg Festival before graduating, she has been a welcome guest ever since.

As a performer of the most celebrated roles in the repertoire, she continues to appear on the world’s prominent stages: in London at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and at Opéra national de Paris as Pamina, at the Lyric Opera Chicago and at the Met in New York as Susanna, at La Scala in Milan as Sophie and Euridice, at the Vienna State Opera as Mélisande, at the Hamburg State Opera as Pamina, Mélisande, Daphne and Contessa, at the Staatsoper unter den Linden as Micaëla and at the Bavarian State Opera as Pamina, Blanche “Dialogues des Carmélites” and Fiordiligi. As Artist in Residence at the Graz Musikverein, Christiane Karg was heard for the first time as Rosalinde in a concert performance of Johann Strauss' “Die Fledermaus”, and as Rusalka in Antonín Dvořák's fairy-tale opera of the same name she will make her eagerly awaited role debut at the Staatsoper Berlin in the current season.

The soprano is an equally sought-after performer on the international concert stage. Her musical partnerships to date have included names such as Ivor Bolton, Herbert Blomstedt, Riccardo Chailly, Christoph Eschenbach, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Iván Fischer, Daniel Harding, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Thomas Hengelbrock, Manfred Honeck, Mariss Jansons, Fabio Luisi, Marek Janowski, Andrew Manze, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Kirill Petrenko und Christian Thielemann. These have paved the way for collaborations with major orchestras such as the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Philadelphia Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Bamberg and Vienna Symphony Orchestras and the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.

Projects in the current season include Mendelssohn's Second Symphony "Lobgesang" with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig under Andris Nelsons, Berlioz's “Les nuits d'été” with the Filarmonica della Scala under Andrés Orozco-Estrada and the Kammerakademie Potsdam under Antonello Manacorda, and Zemlinsky's Lyric Symphony with the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España conducted by David Afkham. Christiane Karg will also appear as soloist in Brahms’ “Ein deutsches Requiem” with the WDR Sinfonieorchester under Christian Măcelaru and in Berg's “Seven Early Songs” with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra under Fabio Luisi. With the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra she will perform in Mahler's Fourth Symphony under Elim Chan and with the Orchestre de Paris under Klaus Mäkelä, with whom she will also perform in a chamber concert.

Christiane Karg continues to cultivate her passion for song and chamber music projects, with regular guest appearances at the Schubertiade in Hohenems and Schwarzenberg, as well as at London's Wigmore Hall (as artist in residence in the 2019/2020 season). She has also given numerous recitals at the Vienna Musikverein, Vienna Konzerthaus, Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin and the Salzburg Festival.

Off stage, Christiane Karg leads and creates her own concert series in her hometown of Feuchtwangen as artistic director of the KunstKlang festival, while spearheading the project "Be part of it! - Music for All", championing music education for children and young people. For her services, she received the Brahms Prize of the Brahms Society of Schleswig-Holstein, the Bavarian Culture Prize in the category of art and the Bavarian Order of Merit.

In spring 2017, Christiane Karg released her critically acclaimed solo CD “Parfum” with settings of texts by Charles Baudelaire, Leconte de Lisle, Paul Verlaine, Tristan Klingsor and Victor Hugo on the Berlin Classics label. She also received the coveted Echo Klassik for her recording of Mozart's “Le nozze di Figaro” under Yannick Nézet-Séguin in the category Opera Recording of the Year. Her additional discs “Scene!” with the Arcangelo Baroque Ensemble under Jonathan Cohen as well as her first lied disc “Verwandlung - Lieder eines Jahres” were honoured with the renowned music prize in the category "Solo Recording". Her recordings “Amoretti” with arias by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Christoph Willibald Gluck and André Grétry, and Heimliche Aufforderung with songs by Richard Strauss are also available on the Berlin Classics label. The Harmonia Mundi label, where Christiane Karg is now an exclusive artist, released Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Choral Fantasy with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra under Pablo Heras-Casado, followed by her solo album “Erinnerung” (Memory) with songs by Gustav Mahler.

Her latest recording "Das Licht der Welt - A Christmas Promenade", on which she is accompanied by Gerold Huber at the piano and the Bavarian Radio Choir under Howard Arman illuminates enchanting rarities of the Christmas repertoire. Excerpts from the disc she has taken to the stage of the Vienna Musikverein.

SEASON 2023/2024 -THIS BIOGRAPHY IS AVAILABLE BY COURTESY OF MACHREICH ARTISTS MANAGEMENT.

Nikola Hillebrand ©Franziska Schrödinger

German soprano Nikola Hillebrand has gained recognition as a regular name at the world's leading opera houses and concert halls including the Bavarian State Opera, Glyndebourne, the Salzburg Festival, Vienna Musikverein, Mozartwoche Salzburg, Vienna Konzerthaus, the Cologne and Paris Philharmonie, Hamburg Laeizshalle, Bremen Music Festival and with conductors such as Adam Fischer, Fabien Gabel, Stephan Gottfried, Manfred Honeck, René Jacobs, Vaclav Luks, Raphaël Pichon, Andris Nelsons, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Jérémie Rohrer, Alexander Soddy, Robin Ticciati and Franz Welser-Möst.

Upon completing her studies in Munich, Nikola Hillebrand was engaged by the Mannheim National Theatre, and from 2020 to 2024 was a member of the ensemble at the Semperoper Dresden, where she appeared in roles such as Pamina “Die Zauberflöte”, Susanna “Nozze di Figaro”, Musetta “La Bohème”, Zdenka “Arabella”, Sophie “Der Rosenkavalier”, Ännchen “Der Freischütz”, Gretel “Hänsel und Gretel” and Adele “Die Fledermaus”.

Additional highlights to date have included Zdenka in Richard Strauss' “Arabella” at the Bonn Theatre and Zurich Opera House, as well as Pamina “Die Zauberflöte” and Adele “Die Fledermaus” at the Hamburg State Opera. In January 2024, she made her acclaimed debut as Kunigunde in Bernstein's Candide at the Theater an der Wien. In summer 2024, she will make her debut as Agathe in a new production of Weber's “Der Freischütz” at the Bregenz Festival and in the 2024/2025 season, Nikola Hillebrand will sing Pamina for the first time at the Opéra de Bastille in Paris and Susanna “Nozze di Figaro” at the Zurich Opera. This was followed by concert performances in the latter role with the Basel Chamber Orchestra and Giovanni Antonini in Luxembourg, Paris, Hamburg and Basel. Nikola Hillebrand can be heard in concert performances of “Der Freischütz” as Ännchen with the Kammerakademie Potsdam and under the direction of Antonello Manacorda in Potsdam, Paris, Baden-Baden and Berlin.

On the concert stage in the coming season, Nikola Hillebrand will perform Mahler's “Symphony No. 4” under Roberto González-Monjas in A Coruña and with the Gewandhaus Orchestra under Andris Nelsons in Vienna and Budapest, followed by Mozart's “Mass in C minor” with Concentus Musicus under Stefan Gottfried at the Vienna Musikverein, Mahler's “Symphony No. 2” under Marin Alsop at the Vienna Konzerthaus and Schumann's “Faust Scenes” under David Afkham in Madrid.

Nikola Hillebrand is a passionate Lied singer in addition to her opera and concert activities. She is the winner of the international song competition "Das Lied 2019" in Heidelberg and recently celebrated her song recital debuts at the Heidelberger Frühling Festival, the Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence, the Leeds Lieder Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, London's Wigmore Hall, the Essen Philharmonie, the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin and the Musikverein Graz.

SEASON 2024/2025 -THIS BIOGRAPHY IS AVAILABLE BY COURTESY OF MACHREICH ARTISTS MANAGEMENT.