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Martin Helmchen is not a showman but rather impresses audiences with his “absolutely determined approach,” Christophe Huss wrote in the Canadian newspaper Le Devoir. “Helmchen is one of those artists who have an aesthetically and culturally well thought-out vision of a work, and their fingers precisely reflect every facet of this universe. Helmchen’s control over the tone, refined dynamics and rhythmic mastery leave one speechless.”
“Virtuosity is great fun for me,” he says. Yet he never succumbs to the temptation of impressing his audience primarily with speed and effect. A profound musical interpretation and linear subtlety are more important to him, and in the long run his unpretentious, expressive playing, which achieves a remarkable balance between intellect and intuition, is all the more captivating.
It is revealing that chamber music, the “most natural and most exhilarating form of music making”, is especially important to Martin Helmchen. He was particularly influenced in this genre by cellists Boris Pergamenschikow and Heinrich Schiff and performs regularly with Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, Veronika Eberle, Julia Fischer, Antoine Tamestit, Christian Tetzlaff, Antje Weithaas, Carolin Widmann, Juliane Banse and Matthias Goerne. He has been an associate professor at the Kronberg Academy since 2010.
Martin Helmchen’s CD recordings include piano concertos by Mozart, Schumann, Dvořák, Mendelssohn, Shostakovich and George Benjamin as well as solo works and chamber music by Schubert, Schumann and Brahms, for the most part on the Pentatone label. Together with his wife, Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, he is also active in the work of the Music Road Rwanda project, which was launched by his wife.