Martin Helmchen
Piano
“Rarely do a soloist and orchestra seem to think and breathe as completely in tandem as they did here” [Helmchen/von Dohnànyi/Boston Symphony Orchestra] The Berkshire Eagle
With his highly virtuosic yet unpretentious style, pianist Martin Helmchen continues to make an impression on the international music scene. Recent performances with major orchestras have included the Berlin Philharmonic with Herbert Blomstedt, Vienna Philharmonic and Valery Gergiev, London Philharmonic with Vladimir Jurowski and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons. In Summer 2011 Martin Helmchen made his USA concerto debut as soloist with Christoph von Dohnànyi at Tanglewood with the Boston Symphony.
Following on from this the 2011/12 will also see Martin Helmchen perform as Artist in Residence with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich and David Zinman. He tours with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, also performing in Germany with the NDR Hamburg and Semyon Bychkov, the Deutsche Symphonie Orchester, Berlin and David Afkham, and Dresden Philharmonic with Michael Sanderling. In the UK Martin Helmchen performs both with The Philharmonia under the baton of Diego Matheuz, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra collaborating again with Vladimir Jurowski. He is soloist with Sir Mark Elder and the Rotterdam Philharmonic, with Sir Roger Norrington and the NHK Symphony, Tokyo and with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields under the baton of Sir Neville Marriner in Vienna and Budapest. He returns to the USA making his debut with the St Louis Symphony under the baton of Jaap van Zweden.
In recital he can be heard in New York’s Frick Collection, London’s Wigmore Hall, and Frankfurt’s Alte Oper amongst other cities in Germany, Spain and Switzerland. He joins his wife, cellist Marie-Elisabeth Hecker for a debut duo recital in Carnegie Hall’s Zenkel Hall, NY.
With his passion for chamber music largely ignited in early collaborations with the late cellist Boris Pergamenschikow he performs throughout Europe during 2011/12 with Heinrich Schiff, Sharon Kam, Sabine Meyer, Veronika Eberle, Julia Fischer, Christian Tetzlaff and Juliane Banse. In Summer 2011 he will again be a guest of Elena Bashkirova’s International Chamber Music Festival, Jerusalem.
An exclusively PentaTone artist since 2007, Helmchen has recorded discs of Mozart, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Dvorak concerti. His first solo recording of Schubert works won an ECHO Award in 2009 and a disc of Schubert duos with Julia Fischer has won no less acclaim.
Studying in Berlin with Galina Iwanzowa, Martin Helmchen continues studies with Arie Vardie at the Hochschule für Musik, Hannover and with William Grant Naboré from the „Klavierakademie Comer See“. An early impact on his career was winning the „2001 Clara Haskil Competition”. He was a Fellow of the Borletti-Buitoni-Trust in 2005 and the “Credit Suisse Young Artist Award” in 2006 culminated with his debut with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Valery Gergiev at the Lucerne Festival. Between 2005 and 2007 Martin Helmchen was a soloist on the “BBC New Generation Artists” scheme. He has also been recipient of an “Echo Klassik” Award.
SEASON 2011/2012
Shostakovich Piano Concertos, LPO, Vladimir Jurowski on YouTube
