Martin Helmchen

Born in 1982 in Berlin, Martin Helmchen began his conservatory studies in the class of Galina Iwanzowa at the Hanns Eisler University of Music in Berlin; he pursued his studies under the guidance of Arie Vardi at Hanover University of Music, Theater and Media. Alfred Brendel and William Grant Naboré have also been his mentors. His career took off when he won the Clara Haskil Competition in 2001.
Since 2010, Helmchen has been Associate Professor for chamber music at the renowned Kronberg Academy. In 2020, his complete recording of the Beethoven piano concertos on the Alpha Classics label with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester conducted by Andrew Manze won the prestigious Gramophone Music Award. As a soloist, Martin Helmchen has concertized with a number of well-known orchestras including the Wiener Philharmoniker, the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, the Dresden Staatskapelle, the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the Wiener Symphoniker, Philharmonia Orchestra London, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, and the Cleveland Orchestra.
Helmchen collaborates on a regular basis with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Manfred Honeck, Bernhard Haitink, Jakub Hr °uˇsa, Klaus Mäkelä, Paavo Järvi, Vladimir Jurowski, Andris Nelsons, Andrew Manze, Kazuki Yamada, Christoph von Dohnányi, Sakari Oramo, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Michael Sanderling, and David Zinman.
His passion for chamber music was kindled to a great extent by his early collaborations with cellist Boris Pergamenschikow. Helmchen now performs regularly with his wife Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, with Frank Peter Zimmermann, Julian Prégardien, Antje Weithaas, and Carolin Widmann. The year 2022 marked his 6th performance at the Ruhr Piano F estival.