In 2016, pianist Martin Helmchen took a step which many threaten but few follow through on: He left Berlin for the surrounding countryside of Brandenburg, his four daughters in tow. His new home is close to the town of Luckau, between the German capital and Dresden, where his wife, cellist Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, is a professor at the Carl Maria von Weber Conservatory of Music. In the last five years, Helmchen has focused on raising his family and practicing his instrument. For him, the “circus” of the classical music industry is a distant concern.
The move gels with Helmchen’s image: Considered one of the best pianists of his generation, he’s been able to avoid many of the vanities that come along with such a distinction. Instead, he’s been busy recording, surveying the Beethoven Sonatas for Violin and Piano with Frank-Peter Zimmermann and the same composer’s Piano Concertos with the Deutsches-Symphonieorchester Berlin under Andrew Manze. I spoke with the 39-year-old Helmchen on video chat about authenticity, the Russian piano school, and his charity work in Rwanda.
Unlimited access to our
