German pianist, winner of 2001 Clara Haskil Competition and 2006 Crédit Suisse Award. CDs on Pentatone label have won 2 ECHO Klassik Awards in 2006 and 2009.

German pianist Martin Helmchen leaped onto the international scene when he won the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition in 2001 at the age of nineteen. His first CD was released in 2007 (Mozart piano concerti), and he went on to record nearly a dozen more to date, with Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn and Dvořák among the standouts. With Julia Fischer he has recorded all of Schubert's music for violin and piano. Beginning in 2011, Helmchen made a series of sensational debuts with major American orchestras, including those of Boston, New York, Cleveland, Chicago, San Francisco and Dallas. In Europe he has played with the London Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, among others. Above all Helmchen values chamber music, and has collaborated with many of the world’s most renowned artists such as Gidon Kremer, Heinrich Schiff, Sabine Meyer and Christian Tetzlaff. He also performs often in duo recitals with his wife, cellist Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, with whom he recently released a recording of the Brahms sonatas. LMMC debut.

PROGRAMME: 

SCHUMANN       Novelletten, Opus 21 (excerpts) (1838)
(1810-1856)             No. 1 in F major, Markirt und kräftig
                                 No. 2 in D major, Äußerst rasch und mit Bravour
                                 No. 5 in D major, Rauschend und festlich
                                 No. 8 in F sharp minor, Sehr lebhaft

BEETHOVEN     33 Variations on a theme by A. Diabelli,
(1770-1827)          Opus 120 (1823)
                                Tema:  Vivace
                                var.  1  Alla marcia maestoso
                                var.  2  Poco allegro
                                var.  3  L’istesso tempo
                                var.  4  Un poco più vivace                         
                                var.  5  Allegro vivace
                                var.  6  Allegro ma non troppo e serioso    
                                var.   7  Un poco più allegro
                                var.   8  Poco vivace                                    
                                var.   9  Allegro pesante e risoluto
                                var. 10  Presto                                             
                                var. 11  Allegretto
                                var. 12  Un poco più mosso                        
                                var. 13  Vivace
                                var. 14  Grave e maestoso                           
                                var. 15  Presto scherzando
                                var. 16  Allegro                                           
                                var. 17  (Allegro)
                                var. 18  Moderato                                        
                                var. 19  Presto
                                var. 20  Andante                                          
                                var. 21  Allegro con brio
                                var. 22  Molto allegro                                 
                                var. 23  Allegro assai
                                var. 24  Fughetta: Andante
                                var. 25  Allegro
                                var. 26  (Piacevole)                                     
                                var. 27  Vivace
                                var. 28  Allegro                                            
                                var. 29  Adagio, ma non troppo
                                var. 30  Andante, sempre cantabile              
                                var. 31  Largo, molto espressivo
                                var. 32  Fuga: Allegro                                  
                                var. 33  Tempo di menuetto, moderato                                        

http://www.schmidtart.com/artists/martin_helmchen