Martin Helmchen
With his highly virtuosic yet unpretentious style, pianist Martin Helmchen is a rapidly rising star. Born in Berlin in 1982, he has already performed with several of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic and the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Japan. He will make his U.S. orchestral debut playing the Schumann concerto under Christoph von Dohnányi at Tanglewood in August 2011. Mr. Helmchen has also performed with the Birmingham Symphony, BBC Symphony, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie/Bremen, DSO/Berlin, Frankfurt Radio Orchestra, Giuseppe Verdi Symphony Orchestra/Milan, Netherlands Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra. Future engagements include the Academy of St. Martin’s in the Fields, Bournemouth Symphony, Cologne Philharmonic, the Hallé Orchestra/Manchester and the London Philharmonia.

An active recording artist, Mr. Helmchen’s debut disc of Mozart concertos with the Netherlands Chamber Philharmonic was released in September 2007 through his exclusive contract with PentaTone. A recording of works by Schubert, his first solo CD, won an ECHO Award in 2009. Other discs for PentaTone include the Mendelssohn concertos, the Schumann and Dvorák concertos, and Schubert’s complete works for violin and piano with Julia Fischer. Mr. Helmchen has a passion for chamber music. Largely ignited by his early collaborations with the late cellist Boris Pergamenschikow, he now performs regularly with Heinrich Schiff and Marie-Elisabeth Hecker. Other partners include Juliane Banse, Julia Fischer, Sharon Kam, Gidon Kremer, Sabine Meyer, Christian Tetzlaff, Lars Vogt and Tabea Zimmermann. Also an enthusiastic recitalist, Mr. Helmchen has performed at prestigious venues throughout Europe and appears regularly at all the major German festivals, as well as Schubertiade, Lockenhaus and Marlboro.

Martin Helmchen studied at Berlin’s Hanns Eisler Conservatory with Galina Iwanzowa and later with Arie Vardie at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater (Hanover) and with William Grant Naboré. His career took off when he won the 2001 Clara Haskil International Piano Competition at the age of 19. Other distinctions include a fellowship from the Borletti-Buitoni Trust in 2005, the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award in 2006 and participation in the BBC New Generation Artist program from 2005-2007.