Christoph Heesch is one of the most promising cellists on today’s music scene. He has distinguished himself both as a soloist, chamber musician and solo cello as orchestral player. Born in Berlin, Heesch began playing the cello at the age of six. His musical education took him to the Julius Stern Institute, followed by several years of study with Jens Peter Maintz, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, and Gabriel Schwabe. He received further artistic inspiration in masterclasses with, among others, David Geringas, Wolfgang Boettcher, and László Fenyő. Since May 2023, Heesch has served as Principal Cellist of the SWR Symphony Orchestra.
As a soloist, Christoph Heesch has appeared with orchestras including the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and the Bruckner Orchestra Linz. His recent engagements include Schumann’s Cello Concerto with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D major under Jakob Lehmann, and Richard Strauss’s Don Quixote with the Bruckner Orchestra Linz under Lawrence Foster. As a chamber musician, Heesch performs regularly at the Berlin Philharmonie and the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and has appeared at major European concert halls including the Vienna Musikverein, Tonhalle Zürich, Pierre Boulez Saal Berlin, and Laeiszhalle Hamburg. His orchestral experience also includes collaborations with the Berliner Philharmoniker, as principal cellist with Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, WDR Symphony Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony, and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.
Since 2024, he has been a lecturer and official assistant to Prof. Jens Peter Maintz’s cello class at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK). From 2025 to 2026, he additionally held a visiting professorship in cello at Stella Vorarlberg University of Music in Feldkirch. His extensive experience across the full spectrum of musical performance—from solo playing and chamber music to orchestral work—forms an essential foundation of his teaching.
Since 2019, Heesch has been a member of the Philharmonic String Quartet Berlin (www.philsq.com). In March 2022, the ensemble’s debut CD featuring works by Antonín Dvořák and Josef Suk was released on the Berlin-based Decurio label. In March 2024, the album Music by Students of Anton Bruckner was released by Gramola and subsequently received a Supersonic Award. His first album for cello and piano, recorded with pianist Nuron Mukumi and devoted exclusively to works by Franz Schubert, will be released by Decurio at the end of 2026.
Christoph Heesch is a prizewinner of numerous national and international competitions. At the 2022 Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann, he was awarded both Second Prize and the Audience Prize. He is also First Prize winner of the XII Domenico Gabrielli Competition and recipient of the Mieczysław Weinberg Prize as well as the Special Prize for Best Music Communication at the TONALi Competition. In 2017, he was a semifinalist at the Queen Elisabeth Competition. In 2021, he was awarded the Carl Flesch Prize at the Carl Flesch Academy.Since 2026, Christoph Heesch has performed on a 1690 cello by Vincenzo Rugeri of Cremona, generously on loan from a private collection.
Philharmonic String Quartet Berlin in Crete Concert
On March 11, 2022 my new album together with the Philharmonic String Quartet with works by Suk and Dvořák was published.
Solo Album: The Golden Age "Cello 1925"
Release: January 2019
The young cellist Christoph Heesch releases a revolutionary album on GENUIN. The winner of the Fanny Mendelssohn Förderpreis plays four cello concertos from 1924-25, each of which is a sensation in its own right.
The composers Paul Hindemith, Jacques Ibert, Bohuslav Martinu and Ernst Toch wrote exciting music for an exciting time: they broke all conventions and placed solo instrument and orchestra in a new relationship to each other.
Christoph Heesch plunges with verve into these virtuosic, melodic, ponderous works. In short, absolutely rewarding works that you wouldn't want to listen to anywhere but from this release.
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. Previously, he was a student of Jens Peter Maintz. As solo cellist of the Esperanza Ensemble and the Eroica Berlin Ensemble, he combines insights into historically informed performance practice with modern instruments.
Philharmonisches Streichquartett Berlin: Suk & Dvořák
Release: March 2022
The Philharmonic String Quartet Berlin presents two works by Bohemian composers which have a special relationship to each other: Josef Suk's Second String Quartet Op. 31 and Antonín Dvořák's 13th String Quartet Op. 106. Indeed, it was Suk himself who, as a violinist, premiered Dvořák's String Quartet with his own quartet in 1896.
The string quartet of the three Berlin Philharmonic musicians Helena Madoka Berg, Dorian Xhoxhi and KyoungminPark, together with Christoph Heesch, approaches these two works with extraordinary joy in playing,high precision and a special feeling for sound design. A gripping and at the same time sensitive interpretation of a virtuoso young ensemble.
Philharmonisches Streichquartett Berlin: Suk & Dvorák
Release: March 2022
The Philharmonic String Quartet Berlin presents two works by Bohemian composers which have a special relationship to each other: Josef Suk's Second String Quartet Op. 31 and Antonín Dvořák's 13th String Quartet Op. 106. Indeed, it was Suk himself who, as a violinist, premiered Dvořák's String Quartet with his own quartet in 1896.
The string quartet of the three Berlin Philharmonic musicians Helena Madoka Berg, Dorian Xhoxhi and KyoungminPark, together with Christoph Heesch, approaches these two works with extraordinary joy in playing,high precision and a special feeling for sound design. A gripping and at the same time sensitive interpretation of a virtuoso young ensemble.
