BIOGRAPHY

Julien Libeer is praised for his profound musical approach, expressive interpretation, and keen understanding of the works he performs, which are invitations to revisit the timeless works of Bach, Mozart or Ravel… With clarity of execution, extreme sensitivity and clever discourse, Julien Libeer has everything going for him. A free spirit and an immense artist!

Julien Libeer’s passion for music began at the age of four, when he discovered Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. Later, he was inspired by pianist Dinu Lipatti. He then trained with the Franco-Polish pedagogue Jean Fassina, before taking a 5-year cycle under the mentorship of Maria João Pires. He also studied with Daniel Blumenthal (Royal Conservatory of Brussels) and enhanced his chamber music skills with the Artemis Quartet. In addition, he has received regular guidance from Dmitry Bashkirov, Alfred Brendel, Nelson Delle Vigne-Fabbri, Jura Margulis and Gerhard Schulz (Alban Berg Quartet).

An artist in residence at Flagey in Brussels, Julien has performed at venues such as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Barbican Hall in London, Palau de la Musica in Barcelona, and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. Other tours have taken him to Japan, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Turkey, and the United States. He has performed as a soloist with orchestras like the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Brussels Philharmonic, Sinfonia Varsovia, and New Japan Philharmonic, collaborating with conductors such as Trevor Pinnock, Augustin Dumay, Jun Märkl, Michel Tabachnik, Hervé Niquet, Enrique Mazzola, among others. Highly sought-after as a chamber musician, he shares the stage with Augustin Dumay, Bruno Philippe, Paul Lewis, Samuel Hasselhorn, Maria João Pires, and Lorenzo Gatto.

Recent season highlights include invitations from the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall, Flagey in Brussels, and the Steinway International Concert Series in Cardiff. He was a guest at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the Miami International Piano Festival, and performed chamber music at De Doelen in Rotterdam and the Théâtre des Abbesses in Paris.

His recordings have been highly praised by the press for their originality and quality. Alongside recordings with Lorenzo Gatto (Complete Beethoven Sonatas – Diapason d’Or of the Year 2016) and Camille Thomas (Réminiscences – Echo Klassik Award 2017), he released “Bach · Bartok” for Harmonia Mundi in 2020, followed by “A Well-tempered Conversation” in 2022, a conceptual approach to Bach’s legendary Well-Tempered Clavier. For the 24-25 season, he is preparing a Mozart album with Pierre Colombet (Ebène Quartet) and Eckart Runge (Artemis Quartet), as well as a Ravel album.

Julien Libeer initiated a wide range of projects that seek to expand the presence of music beyond the concert hall. This includes his role as a host in Belgium’s main classical music TV show (2016) and “Salon Libeer” at the Concertgebouw in Bruges, which combines music and discussion in the hope of deepening the musical experience of the audience. He hosts “Dead or Alive,” a lecture at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, and is also the artistic director of Singing Molenbeek, a Brussels suburb children’s choir.