Rising Belgian pianist Julien Libeer will make his Hong Kong debut with Hong Kong Sinfonietta in two concerts on 14 and 17 June at Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall, as part of the French May Arts Festival 2023.

Ahead of the concerts, he shared with us his journey from being named the most promising young European soloist at the age of 21, to becoming a prolific performer in numerous worldwide orchestras, as well as a recording artist and an initiator of projects rooted in the idea that music can be a force of change for anyone willing to listen.

Julien Libeer, by Jorre Janssens

Born in Kortrijk, Belgium, Julien Libeer was drawn into music from a very young age. At only four, he wanted to become a conductor after watching renowned Leonard Bernstein conducting the Broadway musical West Side Story. Romanian pianist and composer Dinu Lipatti was also an inspiration in his youth and remains an influential figure in his musical life.

“I was drawn into music in general at first, rather than the piano specifically. I loved watching orchestras play and conductors at work, even when I was just three or four. We had an old upright piano in our house. Nobody was really using it, but I crawled towards it occasionally and tried to copy whatever melody I’d just heard on the radio. My parents noticed that music had a particular appeal to me and enrolled me in private piano lessons,” recalls Libeer.

Julien Libeer studied  at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, in Belgium, then with French pianist and recognised teacher Jean Fassina in Paris, France. Back to Belgium at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, he began an intense collaboration with Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires, regarded as one of the leading interpreters of the repertoire of the 18th and 19th centuries.

At the age of twenty-one, Libeer received the Juventus Award, celebrating him as the most promising young European soloist. Since then, he has been acclaimed as one of the most remarkable musical personalities of the young generation.

He has performed at the Barbican Hall in London, the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie in Bremen, the Brussels Philharmonic, the Belgian National Orchestra, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, the Sinfonia Varsovia, the New Japan Philharmonic, and many others.

Julien Libeer, by Jelmer de Haas

He is now an associate artist of the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, where he has specialised in chamber music with the members of the Artemis Quartet.

Having performed in a variety of settings, from solo recitals to chamber music and orchestral concerts, Libeer explains that this is “the mix of different configurations that makes it really interesting”, and he also confides that some are more demanding or rewarding.

“To breathe life into a solo recital is probably the most demanding part of this job, albeit also, perhaps, the most rewarding, since it creates such endless possibilities in programming. To blend into a small chamber music group is also particularly appealing and a truly noble dimension of our practice: it requires you to listen, get along, discuss, and build a common vision of piece. And then, the concerto is ideally a sort of large-scale chamber music experience, with a slightly combative edge to it, which is always good fun!”, the pianist explains.

Libeer’s repertoire encompasses a wide range of composers and styles, nourished by genuine curiosity and constant learning, and built on previous experiences “on what you’ve played, heard, read, understood, felt”.

“To physically learn a piece – any piece – is a rather straightforward process, although it takes many years before you start mastering it. But to understand the idiosyncrasies of a specific composer, or a particular style, that’s something that you learn, step by step, away from the keyboard as much as behind it, mostly by being curious and keeping an open mind (and soul) about it,” says Libeer.

Julien Libeer and Capella Amsterdam, 2023

Collaboration is an important aspect of classical music, whether it’s playing with other musicians or working with a conductor or an ensemble, requiring a good level of connection, communication, and also admiration, to create a cohesive and successful performance.

“It helps to get along on a personal level. Luckily, I found most musicians I’ve worked with to be good company. Despite coming from different cultures or speaking different languages, we share a same admiration and commitment to the music we play. Practically speaking, things work slightly differently with chamber music ensembles than with orchestras. In the latter, rehearsals are usually a bit limited, so most of the time is spent on putting things together, and ‘setting the stage’, so to speak. If that’s properly done – if everyone’s intentions, desires, tempi are clear – the concert can be a genuinely magical experience,” shares Libeer.

Those human interactions were stopped during Covid, so Libeer dedicated himself to Bach and to learning the Well-Tempered Keyboard, the two sets of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys for keyboard written by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Page of Prelude in C in The Well-Tempered Clavier by Johann Sebastian Bach, 1752, by Unknown artist (18th century); Museo Civico Bibliografico Musicale, Bologna, Italy

“Bach’s Well-Tempered Keyboard is essentially the ultimate study book, which has the additional merit of being a musical masterpiece of unrivalled beauty and variety. He wrote it in the 1720s for his own students, and it has been analysed, played, feared and admired ever since by any composer or musician, from Mozart to Ligeti, Chopin and Brahms. It’s one of those works that any keyboard player says he’ll study one day, when he has enough time. Covid provided me with plenty of time, and so my daily encounters with these 300 pages of music became a rare source of stability and wonder through otherwise rather hard time,” explains Libeer.

Driven by the idea that music can be a force of change for anyone willing to listen, Julien Libeer believes in the limitless educational and humanist value of music, able to provide you with endless moments of wonder in life.

“Music – classical or otherwise – can provide many things: from an entertaining night out to a life-changing journey. Its educational value in general is limitless: to master rhythm, pitch, to understand structure, to physically master an instrument and little by little align your movements with your thoughts and emotions – all of that is part of the ultimate humanist education. As far as classical music is concerned, it offers a window into the minds and hearts of some of the most remarkable people who’ve wandered the earth for the last couple of hundred years. It gives you something to admire and endlessly marvel at every day, and, as such, can give meaning to life,” says Libeer.

When asked what advice he would give to aspiring musicians, Libeer simply says that “the most important thing, for young or older musicians alike, is to maintain that sense of wonder that drew us towards music as children” and to keep their relationship to music pristine.

Julien Libeer, by Johan Jacobs

For his two upcoming performances with Hong Kong Sinfonietta on 14 and 17 June, the pianist will play an array of works by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Ravel, Ligeti, Schönberg and Poulenc.

The recital J S Bach & Beyond – A Well-Tempered Conversation will shed a new light on Bach’s timeless work by initiating a unique dialogue where pairs of preludes and fugues are juxtaposed against later pieces by composers building upon Bach’s foundations.

The concert Julien Libeer Plays Poulenc will highlight the iconic French composer Francis Poulenc’s Piano Concerto. In this sparkling work, Libeer will perform alongside Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Music Director Emeritus Yip Wing-sie.

“The recital program is connected to my latest album release for Harmonia Mundi, which was essentially a reflection on the heritage of Bach’s Well-tempered Keyboard. I’ve tried to connect some of the preludes and fugues to works by later composers who, explicitly or not, pay tribute to Bach’s particular genius. I’ve toured this program in the US, Europe and the Middle East and it’s a real joy to bring it to Asia!”, explains Libeer.

As for the concerto by Francis Poulenc, to be performed with Hong Kong Sinfonietta, “it’s one of those absolute gems of the French repertoire”, dear to Libeer’s heart. “Poulenc was a paradoxical character: poetic, deeply religious, and yet gifted with a contagiously exuberant sense of humour. His concerto offers drama, romance and farce in a way that I’ve never seen any other piece pull off,” says the pianist.

These concerts will mark Libeer’s debut in Hong Kong, after an initial invitation in 2019 and the least we can say is that the pianist can’t wait to discover the city and to finally play for the Hong Kong audience.

“It’s a cliché to say that I’m looking very much forward, but in this case, I’m really looking very much forward! The initial invitation goes back to 2019, Covid has had us reschedule the concert half a dozen times at least. I’m so glad I’ll finally get to come over. So many friends of mine have visited Hong Kong in recent years and they all fell in love with the place!”, finally shares Libeer with enthusiasm.

More details on the two concerts can be found below:

HKS Recital Series: Julien Libeer Piano Recital. Tickets at https://www.urbtix.hk/event-detail/9811/
Great Piano Concertos: Julien Libeer Plays Poulenc. Tickets at https://www.urbtix.hk/event-detail/9812/