Concert with top class musicians

Pianist Martin Helmchen performs at the FESB

As a part of his concert series “LebensKlänge” (“LifeSounds”), Martin Helmchen on the piano will perform together with Marie-Elisabeth Hecker on the cello at our school on September 12 at 7:30 p.m. This chamber music event will be a continuation of our by now traditional cooperation with renowned artists.

In the “LebensKlänge” concert series, Martin Helmchen and friends want to convey some of the wonderful meaning music has for our lives. With pieces by Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms these two young, international top class musicians want to express human sentiments, life experiences and encounters with God across all language barriers.

Over the last years, Martin Helmchen has made a name for himself with his highly virtuoso and yet unpretentious style. He was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1982 and took his first piano lessons at the age of six. He received two of the most coveted awards of the musical world, the “ECHO Klassik” and the „Credit Suisse Young Artist Award“, and has played with such distinguished orchestras as the Vienna Philharmonic, the German Symphonic Orchestra Berlin and the NHK Symphony Orchestra Japan. His first album featuring piano concerts by Mozart appeared in 2007, his first solo album with pieces by Schubert will be released in the fall of 2008.

Martin Helmchen has a special love for chamber music – a passion that was invigorated by Boris Pergamenschikow. He performs with Heinrich Schiff and Marie-Elisabeth Hecker on a regular basis. Further music partners include Gidon Kremer, Christian Tetzlaff, Sharon Kam, Tabea Zimmermann, Juliane Banse, Julia Fischer, Sabine Meyer, and Lars Vogt.

Martin Helmchen performed with the RSO Stuttgart (Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra), the Bamberg Symphony, the German Chamber Philharmonic Bremen, the National Orchestra of France, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, among others. He has worked with conductors like Marc Albrecht, Lawrence Foster, Philippe Herreweghe, Marek Janowski, Vladimir Jurowski, Yakov Kreizberg, Kurt Masur, Christoph Poppen, and Bruno Weil.
During the 2008/09 musical season, Martin Helmchen is Artist in Residence at the Berlin Concert Hall in his hometown. Furthermore, he will perform with the Vienna Symphony, the Hallé Orchestra Manchester, the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tonhalle-Orchestra Zurich, and he is scheduled to go on an extensive concert tour through Europe with the Royal Flemish Philharmonic under Philippe Herreweghe. Solo performances will take him to Paris, Lucerne, Trieste, Zurich, London and Berlin.

Marie-Elisabeth Hecker was born in Zwickau, Germany, in 1987. In 1992, at age five, she began studying cello at the Robert Schumann Conservatory in Zwickau. A mere four years later, in 1999, she won the first prize for a cello performance in chamber music and solo performance in the German national music competition “Youth Makes Music”. She won this prize a number of times. At age 14, she was awarded first prize at the well-known International Dotzauer Competition in Dresden. She moved on to study with the reputable cellist Peter Bruns at the Carl-Maria von Weber Conservatory in Dresden.  
Further prizes at national and international music competitions followed. Marie-Elisabeth Hecker has given concerts in Germany and abroad and has taken master classes with Bernard Greenhouse, Gary Hoffman, Frans Helmerson, Steven Isserlis, Leonid Gorokhov, Anner Bylsma, Maria Kliegel, Daniel Hope, Paul Watkins, Jonathan Tunnel, and Peter Bruns. Since May 2006, she has been a member of the Kronberg Acadamy, Germany.
Over the last two years her chamber music has enthused audiences in many famous European concert halls. She performed at festivals in Cannes, Paris (Théâtre des Champs Elyssées, Louvre, Musée d'Orsay), New York, Illinois (Woodstock Mozart Festival), Kronberg („Chamber Music Connects the World“), Bayreuth, Manchester, Lisbon, St. Petersburg, Kiev, Elba (Italy), Orne (France), Bayreuth, and Madrid.

The proceeds of this concert will help to pay for the urgently needed music and sound system for our auditorium which will cost about € 6.500.

September 12, 2008, 7:00 p.m
Free Evangelical Schools Berlin, Christburger Str. 14, 10405 Berlin, Auditorium
Tickets will cost € 5.
They can be purchased in advance daily from 8:00 to 12:00 a.m. at the school office of the FESB junior high school, Christburger Str. 14.
Telephone reservations can be made until September 11, 2008, by phone
at +49(0)30 4431237170. Reserved tickets should be collected on September 12, 2008, before 7:00 p.m. at the box office. 

Contact:
Gunter Hänel,
Public Relations
Phone: +49(0)30  443 1237 - 118
Email: gh@fesb.de

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