Marie-Elisabeth Hecker

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Cellist Marie-Elisabeth Hecker moves audiences with the emotional perfection and warm sensitivity of her playing. Her modest demeanour belies a tremendous inner richness, and she feels the music with every fibre of her being. She herself says of the cello: “To me, it is the most versatile instrument: it can sing, generate rhythm, act as a foundation for any kind of music, especially chamber music, it is the tenor voice. What’s more, you can play it really naturally, you don’t have to contort yourself.” Hecker’s sensational success in the 2005 Rostropovich Competition in Paris was the catalyst for her international breakthrough: for the first time in the history of this major cello competition, she won both the first prize and two special awards.

Since that day, Hecker has ranked among the most sought-after young soloists. She has performed with ensembles including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Belgian National Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Dresden Philharmonic, Filarmonica della Scala, the Gewandhausorchester, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mariinsky Orchestra, the Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Spanish National Orchestra, Staatskapelle Berlin and the Wiener Symphoniker – conducted by Barenboim, Gergiev, Harding, Hengelbrock, Herreweghe, Janowski, Luisi, Nagano, Saraste, Thielemann and von Dohnányi.

Hecker can be heard in recital across the globe, especially alongside her husband, pianist Martin Helmchen, and has performed in venues such as Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Festival Hall Baden-Baden, L'Auditori de Barcelona, Berlin Philharmonie, Bozar Brussels, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, London’s Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall New York, Paris’s Louvre, Toppan Hall Tokyo, Wiener Konzerthaus and Tonhalle Zürich. In addition, she gives regular chamber music concerts in a variety of ensemble formats with Antje Weithaas, Christian Tetzlaff, Stephen Waarts, Carolin Widmann and the Apollon Musagète Quartet. 2023 will see the creation of the “Fliessen” International Chamber Music Festival, to be directed by Marie-Elisabeth Hecker and Martin Helmchen, under the umbrella of the Brandenburgische Sommerkonzerte series. The artists are planning to play, experience and perform chamber music in groups from duos to octets in the Spreewald and on the “Drauschenmühle” artists’ campus just outside Luckau.

Together with Martin Helmchen, Hecker christened the new double concerto by York Höller in spring 2022 at the Ruhr Piano Festival and the Kölner Philharmonie, and the piece was heard 2022 at the opening festival for the Casals Forum, as well as at the Ultraschall Berlin 2023 festival.

Hecker garnered much attention for her recording of the Brahms cello sonatas (together with Martin Helmchen), which was released in May 2016 under the Alpha Classics label. Her recordings of Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata and Piano Trio No 2 (with Martin Helmchen and Antje Weithaas), as well as a CD of Elgar’s cello concerto (together with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra) and his piano quintet were later released under the same label in 2018.

Born in 1987 in Robert Schumann’s hometown of Zwickau, Marie-Elisabeth Hecker began playing the cello at the age of five and attended the Robert Schumann Conservatory before becoming a pupil of the distinguished German cellist Peter Bruns. She continued her studies with Heinrich Schiff and subsequently participated in masterclasses with eminent figures including Anner Bylsma, Bernard Greenhouse, Frans Helmerson, Gary Hoffman and Steven Isserlis. In 2009 she was presented with the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. Alongside her concert work, she has been a professor at Dresden College of Music since August 2017. She also supports a music school in Rwanda, in collaboration with Music Road Rwanda, where she regularly carries out musical projects.

From 2007 to 2010, Marie-Elisabeth Hecker studied at Kronberg Academy with Frans Helmerson. 

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