CURRICULUM VITAE ALBERT BRUSSEE

Albert Brussee was born in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, in 1946. As a student of Jaap Spaanderman, Danièle Dechenne and, for modern music, Ton Hartsuiker at the Amsterdam Muzieklyceum, he gained his diploma in solo performance in 1971 with two distinctions and concluded his studies there with the Prix d’Excellence (1974), the most prestigious music award in Holland at that time.

From 1971 to 1981 Brussee performed regularly as a pianist, with several radio broadcasts to his name. In the 1980s, suffering from focal dystonia, he withdrew from the podium and turned more to teaching; he was a teacher of piano and of keyboard history at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. From 1985 to 2010 he was responsible for the piano students of the internationally highly esteemed jazz department there (technical training and classical repertoire). In 2003 Albert Brussee was a jury member of Les Rencontres Internationales des jeunes pianistes in Namur and in 2005 of the 7th International Franz Liszt Competition in Utrecht.

As editor of both the Piano Bulletin of the European Piano Teachers Association (EPTA – The Netherlands), and the Journal of the Franz Liszt Circle, he has written a great number of articles, including some in English, German, Hungarian and American magazines. In 2004, the piano method De Kunst van het Pianospel (‘The Art of Piano Playing’) by the renowned pedagogue Cornelius Berkhout, edited and annotated by Ben Smits and him, was published; this important Dutch keyboard method had previously only been available in a few copies of the typescript. In 2014, Mazeppa in de romantische kunst was released, an interdisciplinary cultural-historical study, a search for more than 150 works of art (poems, novels, plays, paintings, drawings, operas, keyboard pieces, cantatas, choral works, films), all inspired by the famous Mazeppa story; an English version of this book was published by Kindle in New York. Both books can be regarded as a preliminary study for The Mazeppa Music of Franz Liszt, which received international attention. After his retirement (in 2010), the emphasis has increasingly shifted to writing. To date, nine books have been published, mainly about his favourite composer Franz Liszt. For an overview, see WRITINGS > Books and brochures.

Through his reconstruction and publication (in three volumes) of early versions of Liszt’s piano cycle Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, comprising twenty previously unpublished keyboard pieces, Albert Brussee has made a name internationally as a Liszt expert. In 2008, he edited an unknown early sonata by C.P.E. Bach in E-flat major (in two versions; Wq65, H16), to be followed two years later by Three Sketches from Sketchbook N6 of Franz Liszt. Additionally, Albert Brussee composes – in the past partly in collaboration with the late Max Prick van Wely – piano music in Romantic style, in which a certain influence of the ‘light muse’ is recognizable. His Eleven Studies on a Theme by J. Mulders was premiered in October 2018 in Geneva, Rotterdam, The Hague and Amsterdam by the Greek pianist Theodore Tzovanakis. An overview of his compositions and editions can be found under “SHEET MUSIC”.

In the 21st century, Albert Brussee has returned to the spotlight more frequently, performing in recitals, lecture-recitals and lectures. In addition to concerts in the Netherlands (including at Pulchri Studio, Felix Meritis, Cristofori, the Westvest90 church in Schiedam and the Oude Kerk in Zoetermeer), there have been lecture-recitals in Rome, Budapest (Franz Liszt Academy) and Berlin (Hochschule für Musik). In the summer of 2004, Brussee gave a successful Liszt recital during the Regent Hall Festival in London and also performed in Dublin. A CD featuring his own compositions, Between Dream and Despair (1994), was well received. Two years later, on the occasion of his 50th birthday, a compact disc with recordings from the years 1974–81 was released. His recordings (in 1997 and 2001 respectively) of the above-mentioned early versions of Liszt’s Harmonies poétiques et religieuses were most favourably reviewed, both in the Netherlands and abroad. In 2007, his fifth CD appeared, with works by C.P.E. Bach, Grotthuss, Chopin, Liszt and Debussy, followed five years later by a compact disc of Romantic keyboard music at the interface of ‘salon’ and ‘concert hall’: Salut d’amour. At a concert on the occasion of his 70th birthday in the Westvest90 church, Albert Brussee presented his seventh CD, En première, for the greater part featuring previously unreleased piano music by J.S. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, Czerny, Liszt, Van den Sigtenhorst Meyer, Debussy and Messiaen. His latest CD is dedicated to the early, impressionistic piano music of The Hague composer Bernhard van den Sigtenhorst Meyer. More detailed information and reviews can be found under the tab CDs.

Albert Brussee was for many years chairman of the Royal Dutch Union of Musicians (KNTV), Amsterdam branch. From 1994 to 2002 he was secretary of the European Piano Teachers Association – The Netherlands. In addition, he was chairman of the board of the EPTA Documentation Centre (EDC) from 1997 until 2009, and from 2005 up to and including 2012 secretary of the Franz Liszt Kring (Franz Liszt Circle). Currently, he is only a board member of the Franz Liszt Circle and editor-in-chief of the Liszt Bulletin.

On 7 December 2025, a huge explosion occurred close to the maisonette in The Hague in which Albert Brussee lived. Many possessions were lost, but his grand piano, Liszt archive and a large proportion of his books and music library were rescued by the emergency services before his apartment was completely demolished. However, his CDs and sheet music editions, stored in the basement storage room, were destroyed, so that most of them are currently unavailable; this is mentioned on the relevant web pages. After spending six months in temporary accommodation, he now lives in his hometown of Apeldoorn.