Julien Libeer | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Born | October 1987 37) Kortrijk, Belgium | (age
Genres | Classical |
Occupation | Pianist |
Labels | Harmonia Mundi, Alpha Classics, Evil Penguin Classic |
Website | julienlibeer.net |
Julien Libeer (born October 1987 in Kortrijk) is a Belgian classical pianist. Libeer has won several awards for his compositions, and regularly performs his works at a variety of international stadiums. He is the host of Belgian television show Studio Flagey Klassik, a television show about classical music.
As a child, Libeer developed a keen interest for classical music, ranging from opera, orchestra, and chamber music. At four years old, he aspired to become a conductor after watching Leonard Bernstein conducting West Side Story. [1] [2] He decided to become a pianist only after discovering Romanian pianist and composer, Dinu Lipatti. [3]
Between 2005 and 2009, Libeer studied [4] at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels (along with Daniel Blumenthal). At 18 years of age, he honed his skills working with French-Polish pedagogue, Jean Fassina, in Paris. Libeer had an intense collaboration with Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, [5] whose advice and support strongly influenced Libeer's views over the last few years. He regularly shared the stage with the pianist over the same years. [6]
Libeer is an associate artist of the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, where he also specialized in chamber music with the members of the Artemis Quartet. He collaborated and received advice from Dmitri Bashkirov, Alfred Brendel, Nelson Delle-Vigne Fabbri, Jura Margulis and Gerhard Schulz (Alban Berg Quartett).
After staying away from international competition, [7] Libeer received the Juventus Award for most promising young European soloist in 2008, [8] and was elected Young Musician of the Year by the Belgian Music Press Association in 2010. The Klara award was attributed to him twice, in 2013 [9] and 2016. [10]
Libeer is a resident artist at Flagey (Brussels, Belgium) since 2020. [11]
He has performed as a soloist, concertist and chamber musician at the Barbican Hall (London), Auditorio Nacional de Música (Madrid), Palau de la Música Catalana (Barcelona), Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), and is a regular guest of the Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels and Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. In addition, other tours have taken him to Japan (Tokyo, Sumida Triphony Hall), Lebanon (Beirut Chants festival), Turkey (Ankara International Music Festival) and the United States (Miami International Piano Festival).
He has performed with numerous orchestras: Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Brussels Philharmonic, Belgian National Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia and New Japan Philharmonic; working along conductors such as Trevor Pinnock, Michel Tabachnik, Augustin Dumay, Hervé Niquet, Joshua Weilerstein, Enrique Mazzola, and Christopher Warren-Green. His dedication to the works of Dinu Lipatti has resulted in collaborations with the Bucharest Radio Orchestra, among others, and to two recordings produced by the Belgium record label Evil Penguin Classic.
He works on a regular basis with the Danish String Quartet, Camille Thomas, [12] with whom he recorded the album Réminiscences (La Dolce Volta), Paul Lewis, Maria João Pires and Lorenzo Gatto, with whom he also performed and recorded the complete Beethoven violin and piano sonatas over several seasons (at venues including Wigmore Hall, Louvre, and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam).
Libeer is a regular guest of Belgian and international media. [13] [14] [15]
He is the producer, host and mediator of Studio Flagey Klassiek on Canvas, [16] a major Belgian television show on classical music (2016). He hosted "Salon Libeer", a concert series at the Bruges Concertgebouw, [17] [18] in which he joins with fellow musicians and speakers to discuss the musical experiences of the audience (2017–2021). Since February 2022, Libeer has been hosting the lecture series "Dead or Alive" in collaboration with LUCA School of Arts [19] and the Catholic University of Leuven, a philosophical exploration of the shifts in classical music making where leading figures are invited to debate (philosophers, writers, musicians…). In 2013, Libeer starred in a documentary film Technique doesn't exist, [20] [21] along with Maria João Pires and Donald Sturrock. In 2018, Musiq'3/RTBF honored him in another 50-minute documentary Jeunes solistes, grands destins: Julien Libeer (Young soloist, great destiny: Julien Libeer). [22]
Artistic director of the Singing Molenbeek project, [23] Libeer supervises high level choir rehearsals in the primary schools of the Brussels municipality. The project has gathered the help of various artists since its creation in 2014 by Zeno Popescu. [24]
Libeer's recordings were critically acclaimed worldwide. Alongside albums with cellist Camille Thomas (Réminiscences, [25] La Dolce Volta) and violinist Lorenzo Gatto [26] (complete Beethoven violin and piano sonatas, Alpha Classics), Libeer recorded Bach – Bartók in 2020 [27] and J.S. Bach & beyond – A Well-Tempered Conversation in 2022 for Harmonia Mundi. He takes a conceptual approach to Bach's legendary Well-Tempered Clavier mirrored with the work of classical and contemporary composers in major mode.[ citation needed ] This last project was performed live at concerts with various arrangements: piano solo, piano and choir [28] …
The Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61, was written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1806. Its first performance by Franz Clement was unsuccessful and for some decades the work languished in obscurity, until revived in 1844 by the then 12-year-old violinist Joseph Joachim with the orchestra of the London Philharmonic Society conducted by Felix Mendelssohn. Joachim would later claim it to be the "greatest" German violin concerto. Since then it has become one of the best-known and regularly performed violin concertos.
Constantin "Dinu" Lipatti was a Romanian classical pianist and composer whose career was cut short by his death from effects related to Hodgkin's disease at age 33. He was elected posthumously to the Romanian Academy. He composed few works, all of which demonstrated a strong influence from Hungarian composer Béla Bartok.
Murray David Perahia is an American pianist and conductor. He has been considered one of the greatest living pianists. He was the first North American pianist to win the Leeds International Piano Competition, in 1972. Known as a leading interpreter of Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schumann, among other composers, Perahia has won numerous awards, including three Grammy Awards from a total of 18 nominations, and 9 Gramophone Awards in addition to its first and only "Piano Award".
Hélène Rose Paule Grimaud is a French classical pianist and the founder of the Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem, New York.
İdil Biret is a Turkish concert pianist.
Nelson José Pinto Freire was a Brazilian classical pianist. Regarded as one of the greatest pianists of his generation, he was noted for his "decorous piano playing" and "interpretive depth". His extensive discography for labels such as Sony Classical, Teldec, Philips, and Decca has garnered awards including the Gramophone Award and Diapason d'Or. Freire appeared as soloist with the world's most prestigious orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. He played and recorded piano duo music with Martha Argerich, a long-time musical and personal friend.
Radu Lupu was a Romanian pianist. He was widely recognized as one of the greatest pianists of his time.
Piotr Anderszewski is a Polish pianist and composer.
Kun-woo Paik is a South Korean pianist. He has performed with multiple orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic.
Till Fellner is an Austrian pianist.
The Diapason d'Or is a recommendation of outstanding (mostly) classical music recordings given by reviewers of Diapason magazine in France, broadly equivalent to "Editor's Choice", "Disc of the Month" in the British Gramophone magazine.
Joseph-Édouard Risler was a French pianist.
Shani Diluka is a Monegasque pianist of Sri Lankan descent. She was among those to benefit from a programme initiated by Princess Grace of Monaco, which allowed children to receive music lessons integrated into their schooling. She received the first prize in the Académie de Musique. She subsequently studied with Odile Poisson, a pupil of Pierre Sancan. Enrolled in the Conservatoire de Paris in 1997, she studied with Georges Pludermacher and François-Frédéric Guy and later with Marie-Françoise Bucquet, Nicholas Angelich and Bruno Rigutto.
Artur Pizarro is an internationally-acclaimed Portuguese concert pianist. Designated with the prestigious title of Yamaha Artist, Pizarro won first prize in the 1987 Vianna da Motta International Music Competition and first prize in the 1990 Leeds International Pianoforte Competition. His piano technic/knowledge is linked directly to Liszt himself : his teacher for 17 years, Sequeira Costa, was a great Portuguese pianist who had studied with José Vianna Da Motta, another world famous Portuguese pianist who was one of the last pupils of Liszt.
Jules Delsart was a French cellist and teacher. He is best known for his arrangement for cello and piano of César Franck's Violin Sonata in A major. Musicologist Lynda MacGregor described Delsart as "one of the foremost French cellists of the period, with faultless technique, a precise bow and a sweet, though not large, tone." He was the owner of the 1689 'Archinto' Stradivari.
Igor Levit is a Russian-German pianist who focuses on the works of Bach, Beethoven, and Liszt. He is also a professor at the Musikhochschule Hannover. He lives in Berlin.
Detlev Eisinger is a German pianist.
Maude Gratton is a French classical musician. She is pursuing a career of soloist, mastering the pipe organ, the piano-forte and the harpsichord.
Vahan Mardirossian is an Armenian pianist and conductor.
Edith Fischer is a Chilean pianist. She is notable for her renditions of the full cycle of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas, which she has performed live twelve times.
El elegido en esta ocasión para acompañarla era Julien Libeer, alumno suyo y pianista muy notable a pesar de no haber cumplido aún treinta años.[The one chosen on this occasion to accompany her was Julien Libeer, her pupil and very notable pianist despite not having turned thirty yet.]
Camille Thomas and Julien Liebeer, ardent champions of chamber music, have devised an exceptionally varied yet coherent recital of French music for cello and piano
Libeer's Bach playing has wonderful verve, fluency and conviction
Zo is ook het spel van Julien Libeer, dat naar mijn gevoel uitmondt in een weliswaar deels postume maar toch niet minder actuele ontmoeting tussen drie meesters van het klavier: Lipatti, Ravel en Libeer.[This is a posthumous but no less contemporary encounter between three masters of the keyboard: Lipatti, Ravel and Libeer.]
The Alpha engineers seem to have achieved an almost perfect, natural balance. On that account alone I wholeheartedly commend these lovely, warm performances to lovers of these mercurial masterpieces. Frankly on this evidence Gatto and Libeer can hold their heads high in the face of any of this competition.
This superbly curated and produced programme stands on its own, and comes with the highest recommendation as far as I'm concerned.
This article incorporates textby Julien Libeer available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license.The text and its release have been received by the Wikimedia Volunteer Response Team .