“Schubert is one of the composers who have been accompanying me for quite some time: one of those giants who always manage to surprise me and who command even greater respect, the more closely I examine their works”. Those are the words of Jos van Immerseel, the maestro of historical performance practice, referring to the composer whom he will feature in his fourth appearance at the Ruhr Piano Festival. “Dramatic energy is just one of the qualities that fascinate me in Schubert. I find his music particularly ‘pure’, in the true sense of the word. Schubert never cared what others thought about him: he forged his own path, which led him to produce an entirely original oeuvre”, Immerseel pursues. That originality can also be found in the works he will be presenting in Bottrop, all of which were composed exactly 200 years ago: in 1823.