Born in 1987 in Zwickau, Germany, Marie-Elisabeth Hecker has been the recipient of many awards and prizes, including first prize at the Rostropovich Competition in Paris in 2005 and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2009. Marie-Elisabeth Hecker had her first cello lessons in 1992 at the Zwickau Robert Schumann Conservatory before going on to study with Peter Bruns, first at the Carl Maria Weber Conservatory in Dresden, then in Leipzig at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Hochschule. She has participated in masterclasses with Steven Isserlis, Frans Helmerson, Bernard Greenhouse, Gary Hoffman and Anner Bylsma. She has appeared with the Cherubini Orchestra (Yuri Temirkanov) at the Ravenna Festival, Dresden Philharmonic (Dmitrij Kitajenko), DSO Berlin (Alan Buribayev), Kremerata Baltica (Gidon Kremer), Mahler Chamber Orchestra (Stefan Solyom), Mariinsky Orchestra (Valery Gergiev), Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra (Yakov Kreizberg), Munich Philharmonic (Christian Thielemann) and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (Marek Janowski), as well as recitals in Baden-Baden, Barcelona, Berlin, Florence, Geneva, Madrid, Munich, Paris, Zurich and the Lucerne Festival. Highlights of the 2009-10 season include debuts at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and Yakov Kreizberg, Gewandhaus Leipzig and Gerard Korsten, at the Kissinger Sommer with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Jiri Bělohlávek, Palais des Beaux Arts with the Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra and Philippe Herreweghe, Spanish National Orchestra with Sylvain Cambreling, Staatskapelle Berlin with Daniel Barenboim and re-invitations from the Mahler Chamber Orchestra with Brahms Double Concerto, Viviane Hagner and Emmanuel Krivine, Mariinsky Orchestra with Valery Gergiev and the Orchestre de Paris with Marek Janowski. She will also appear in recital with Martin Helmchen in Barcelona, Madrid, Paris and in a chamber music programme featuring Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet and Oleg Maisenberg in Cologne, Eindhoven, Paris and Zurich. Marie-Elisabeth Hecker is supported by the Kronberg Academy.
Photograph taken by Benjamin Ealovega
"This is a marvellous disc, one of the most enjoyable I have
heard in a long time... a great line-up of soloists, who seem to know
one another very well, or to have clicked miraculously, with results
that, in the case of the 'Trout' Quintet, are more completely
satisfactory than any account I have ever heard of this work."
BBC Music Magazine, July 2009
Project: Pentatone recording of Schubert's Trout
Quintet, a collaboration between BBT Award Winners Martin Helmchen,
Marie-Elisabeth Hecker and Antoine Tamestit, with BBT Honorary
Committee member Christian Tetzlaff violin, plus Alois Posch double bass
Not only is the BBT-Award a unique financial aid, but it also establishes ties to great musicians and patrons. The Award inspires work on new ideas and helps me to use the financial means for productive purposes. I am very glad to have met a number of people, who regularly support me, provide advice and help me to find my place in the music world.