Piano

“Nothing disconcerts the glorious, unshowy Martin Helmchen — the kind of performer who lifts his audiences up to heaven just by penetrating inside his music with nimble fingers, questing intelligence and a beating heart.” The Times

Martin Helmchen has established himself as one of today’s most in-demand and sought after pianists. The originality and intensity of his interpretations, alongside his excellent tonal sensitivity and technical abilities characterize him. Born in Berlin in 1982 and a former student of Galina Iwanzowa, Helmchen continued his studies with Arie Vardi at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover. His other mentors include William Grant Naboré and Alfred Brendel. His career gained incredible momentum when he won the „Concours Clara Haskil“ in 2001.

Early on he performed with the world’s most renowned orchestras such as the Berlin and Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, , City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony and New York Philharmonic as well as Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Wiener Symphoniker, Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich, and Orchestre de Paris. In Scandinavia he appears regularly with the Oslo Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Danish National Symphony Orchestra. He enjoyed collaborations with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Manfred Honeck, Andris Nelsons, Jakub Hrůša, , Paavo Järvi, Vladimir Jurowski, , Kazuki Yamada, Christoph von Dohnányi, Edward Gardner, Bernhard Haitink, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Michael Sanderling und David Zinman.

Highlights of this season include his return to the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, followed by guest performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Stockholm Philharmonic as well as with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo.

Being an avid chamber musician Helmchen regularly performs with fellow artists such as his wife cellist Marie- Elisabeth Hecker, Julian Prégardien, , , , and Frank Peter Zimmermann. This season, Helmchen continues his great Beethoven cycle with violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann which they tour to Munich, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Monte-Carlo, Neumarkt, Amsterdam, Stockholm, and Luxembourg.

Martin Helmchen is an exclusive artist of Alpha Classics. In light of the Beethoven anniversary he has recorded all piano concertos together with the Deutsche Symphonieorchester under the baton of Andrew Manze which will all be released in 2020. In 2019 he released Messiaen’s “Vingt regards sur l’enfant- Jésus“. Further recordings include Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, by Schubert with Marie-Elisabeth Hecker and Antje Weithaas as well as a Brahms’ duo CD with Marie-Elisabeth Hecker. He previously recorded several discs with Classics, including piano concertos by Mozart, Schumann, Mendelssohn as well as chamber music by Schubert, Schumann and Brahms.

Since 2010, Martin Helmchen has been an Associate Professor of chamber music at the .

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