Christoph Heesch

Winner of the 2018 Fanny Mendelssohn Förderpreis, Christoph Heesch is one of the most exciting artists of his generation. Born in Berlin in 1995, he is currently studying at the Berlin University of the Arts with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt. He was previously a student of Jens Peter Maintz for seven years.

Heesch has won many student prizes. His honors include First Prize at the XII. Domenico Gabrielli Competition, winning the Mieczysław Weinberg Award at the TONALi15 Music Competition, and a scholarship from the 2016 German Music Competition, and he was also a semifinalist of the 2017 Queen Elisabeth Competition.

As solo cellist of both the Esperanza Ensemble and the Eroica Berlin ensemble, he combines insights of historically-informed performance practice with modern instruments. He performs both solo and chamber concerts, giving him the opportunity of a universal training on his instrument. In the process, he calls the music into question from a critical stylistic perspective, something that is just as important for him as a captivating interaction with his audience.

Heesch is particularly committed to making the idea of classical concerts accessible to listeners of any age and background. In the innovative concert formats and other avenues for raising musical awareness of the TONALi project, he has found an ideal home for both his musical and conceptual ideas.

Christoph Heesch is a scholarship holder of the Musikakademie Liechtenstein. Since 2017 he has played a cello by Domenicus Montagnana from the stock of musical instruments of the German Foundation for Musical Life.

Picture: Oliver Mark