Kissinger Sommer

Vladimir Jurowski has been Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the RundfunkSinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB) since 2017. In 2023/2024, his concerts, tours and recordings were the highlights of the ‘RSB100’ anniversary season. His current contract in Berlin runs until 2027,
while he has also been General Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich since 2021.

Vladimir Jurowski, one of the most sought-after conductors of our time, who is celebrated worldwide for his innovative musical interpretations and equally for his courageous artistic commitment, was born in Moscow in 1972 and completed the first part of his music studies at the Music College of the Moscow Conservatory. He moved to Germany with his family in 1990 and continued his studies at the music academies in Dresden and Berlin. In 1995, he made his debut at the Wexford Festival in Ireland with Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Mainacht’ and in 1996 at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden with ‘Nabucco’. He was then First Kapellmeister of the Komische Oper Berlin (1997-2001).

Vladimir Jurowski worked as Chief Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) for fifteen years until 2021 and has since been appointed Conductor Emeritus. In the UK, he was Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera from 2001 to 2013, leading a wide range of highly acclaimed productions. His close connection to British musical life was recognised by King Charles III in spring 2024 when he appointed Vladimir Jurowski an Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE). In April 2024, Vladimir Jurowski returned to London as a guest conductor to complete the concert performance cycle of Wagner’s ‘Ring’ with ‘Götterdämmerung’ with the LPO at the Royal Festival Hall.

He was Artistic Director of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra ‘Yevgeny Svetlanov’ of the Russian Federation until 2021 and Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Great Britain, as well as Artistic Director of the International George Enescu Festival in Bucharest. He has also worked with the unitedberlin ensemble for many years. Vladimir Jurowski has suspended performances in Russia since February 2022. Ukrainian works are and will remain part of his repertoire, as will works by Russian composers.

Vladimir Jurowski has conducted concerts by the most important orchestras in Europe and North America, including the Berlin, Vienna and New York Philharmonics, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, the Boston and Chicago symphony orchestras, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig. He is a regular guest at the music festivals in London, Berlin, Dresden, Lucerne, SchleswigHolstein and Grafenegg. Although Vladimir Jurowski is invited as a guest conductor by top orchestras from all over the world, he now concentrates his activities on those geographical areas that he can easily reach with reasonable effort from an ecological point of view.

The joint CD recordings by Vladimir Jurowski and the RSB began in 2015 with Alfred Schnittke’s Symphony No. 3, followed by works by Britten, Hindemith, Strauss, Mahler and again Schnittke. Vladimir Jurowski has been honoured many times for his achievements, including numerous international record awards. In 2016, he received an honorary doctorate from the Royal Philharmonic Society from the hands of the current King Charles III. In 2020, Vladimir Jurowski’s work as Artistic Director of the George Enescu Festival was honoured by the Romanian President with the Order of Cultural Merit.

Martin Helmchen is one of the most sought-after pianists and has performed on the world’s most important stages for decades. In particular, the originality and intensity of his interpretations, which he presents with impressive sound sensitivity and technical sophistication, characterize him as a musician. In 2020 he received the prestigious Gramophone Music Award for his recording of the complete Ludwig van Beethoven piano concertos with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin conducted by Andrew Manze, released on Alpha Classics.
As a soloist, Martin Helmchen has performed with numerous renowned orchestras, including the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic, the Concertgebouworkest, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the Orchester de Paris, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra London, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic and The Cleveland Orchestra. He works regularly with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Manfred Honeck, Andrew Manze, Kazuki Yamada, Vladimir Jurowski, Andris Nelsons, Christoph von Dohnányi, Jakub Hrůša, Klaus Mäkelä, Paavo Järvi, Sakari Oramo, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Michael Sanderling and David Zinman .
Chamber music is of particular importance to him – a passion for which Boris Pergamenshikov provided the essential impetus. His close chamber music partners include his wife Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Julian Prégardien, Augustin Hadelich, Antje Weithaas and Carolin Widmann.
Highlights of the 2022/2023 season are concerts with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, WDR Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Orchester Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, with Martin Helmchen will present three different projects. Recitals have taken him to the Boston Celebrities Series, the Dortmund Concert Hall, the Toppan Hall in Tokyo, the Thomaskirche in Leipzig and the Thuringian Bach Festival. Martin Helmchen and his wife Marie-Elisabeth Hecker commissioned a double concerto for cello and piano from York Höller, which they premiered in June 2022 at the Ruhr Piano Festival and as part of the opening of the Casals-Forum with the Kremerata Baltica and the German Symphony Orchestra Berlin will repeat at the Ultrasonic Festival in the 2022/23 season. Concerts with Frank Peter Zimmermann are planned at the Rheingau Music Festival, in London, Luxembourg, Bern and Monaco.
Martin Helmchen is an exclusive artist at Alpha Classics. Most recently, in March 2022, the highly acclaimed album “Noveltten und Gesänge der Frühe” with piano works by Robert Schumann was released. In May 2021 his recording of the concert piece by Carl Maria von Weber with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin under Christoph Eschenbach was released. His past publications included i.a. Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, Messiaen’s “Vingt regards sur l’enfant-Jésus”, as well as a duo album with Marie-Elisabeth Hecker with Schumann and Brahms works.
Born in Berlin in 1982, he first studied with Galina Iwanzowa at the HfM “Hanns Eisler” Berlin, later switched to Arie Vardi at the HMTM Hanover; further mentors are William Grant Naboré and Alfred Brendel. His career received a first decisive impulse when he won the “Concours Clara Haskil” in 2001.
Since 2010, Martin Helmchen is an Associate Professor of Chamber Music at Kronberg Academy.