In the 2012/13 Martin Helmchen is soloist both with the Philharmonia, London and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under the baton of Christoph von Dohnanyi. He also performs with the Orchestre National de Lyon with Antoni Wit, the Orchestre National de France with Andres Orozco-Estrada, Radio Symphony Orchestra of Berlin with Marek Janowski and makes his debut with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and John Storgårds. He collaborates again with Andris Nelsons on a tour in Germany with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and joins Viviane Hagner and Marie-Elizabeth Hecker on tour in Spain with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Returning to the USA he makes his debut with the Houston Symphony under the baton of Hans Graf.

In recital two important venues are added to a busy schedule including Berlin’s Philharmonie, San Francisco’s SF Performances series. With a passion for chamber music largely ignited in early collaborations with the late cellist Boris Pergamenschikow, Martin Helmchen performs throughout Europe during 2012/13 with his wife and cellist Marie-Elizabeth Hecker and joining with Veronica Eberle and Antoine Tomastit they perform in Berlin, Amsterdam and Paris.

The 2011/12 season has seen Martin Helmchen as Artist in Residence with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich and David Zinman. He has also performed with NDR Hamburg and Semyon Bychkov, the Deutsche Symphonie Orchester Berlin and David Afkham, with the Philharmonia and Diego Matheuz, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra collaborating again with Vladimir Jurowski.

An exclusive PentaTone artist since 2007, Helmchen has recorded discs of Mozart, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Dvořák concerti. His first solo recording of Schubert works won an ECHO Award in 2009 and a disc of Schubert duos with Julia Fischer has won no less acclaim. In 2012/13 he records his second Mozart concerti disc returning to collaborate with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra led by Gordan Nikolic.

Studying in Berlin with Galina Iwanzowa, Martin Helmchen continues studies with Arie Vardie at the Hochschule für Musik, Hannover and with William Grant Naboré from the “KIavierakademie Comer See“. An early impact on his career was winning the “2001 Clara Haskil Competition". He was a Fellow of the Borletti-Buitoni-Trust in 2005 and the "Credit Suisse Young Artist" in 2006 culminating with his début with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Valery Gergiev at the Lucerne Festival. Between 2005 and 2007 Martin Helmchen was a soloist on the "BBC New Generation Artists" scheme.