Martin Helmchen has established himself as one of today’s most in-demand and sought-after pianists, characterised by the originality and intensity of his interpretations, alongside his excellent tonal sensitivity and technical abilities. As a soloist, he has performed in recent years with some of the world’s most renowned orchestras on this side and the other side of the Atlantic, including the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras, the Concertgebouworkest, the Orchestre de Paris as well as with the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra. Martin Helmchen also enjoys regular collaborations with renowned conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Manfred Honeck, Andrew Manze or Paavo Järvi and many others.

Chamber music has a special significance for the pianist. Close chamber music partners include his wife Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, Julian Prégardien, Antje Weithaas, Carolin Widmann and Frank Peter Zimmermann, with whom Helmchen will perform at recitals this autumn in London, Luxembourg and Monaco. Further highlights of the 2022/23 season included concerts with Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, with whom Helmchen presented three different projects. Martin Helmchen is also an exclusive artist with Alpha Classics. In 2020 he received the prestigious Gramophone Music Award for his recording of Ludwig van Beethoven’s complete piano concertos.

Her musical intuition, her inspiring charisma and her ability to combine passion with precision make Anja Bihlmaier one of the leading conductors of her generation. According to SWR Kultur, »Sensitivity, openness and curiosity« always define the work of this conductor who inspires with a broad repertoire on the opera stage – most recently with Wagner’s ›Fliegender Holländer‹ in Tampere or with Verdi’s ›La Traviata‹ at the Norske Opera in Oslo – as well as on the concert podium. She has recently conducted several international orchestras such as the BBC Symphony, the City of Birmingham Symphony, the Finnish Radio Symphony, the Danish National Symphony, the Swedish Radio Symphony and many more. Bihlmeier has been principal conductor of the Residentie Orkest in The Hague since August 2021.

Numerous debuts await the conductor in the 2023/24 season, including with the hr-Sinfonieorchester, the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg in the Elbphilharmonie, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Sydney and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras. In the summer of 2023, she made her Proms debut with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and this exciting conductor is now also celebrating a premiere with the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen.