Fanny Mendelssohn Sponsorship Award 2018: Christoph Heesch wins debut CD

The "Golden Twenties" are the inspiration for the idea behind , with which Christoph Heesch impressed the jury of the Fanny Mendelssohn Sponsorship Award. During this period of upheaval, reorientation, and freedom, the composers Ernst Toch, Paul Hindemith, Jacques Ibert and Bohuslav Martinů worked together, breaking down the traditional strict boundaries between chamber and orchestral music. The 22-year-old cellist Christoph Heesch wished to address this phenomenon in his conceptual album and was able to win over the jury of the prize, which recently made its decision in Hamburg's Lichtwarksaal. Christoph Heesch's debut CD prize will be released by GENUIN in September 2018, following the recording of "Funeralissimo" by Matthias Well, the previous finalist of the prize. "Funeralissimo" was euphorically acclaimed by the press and ended up in 16th place on the official classic charts.

This year's jury consisted of the journalist Jürgen Kesting, the managing director of the Mendelssohn-Haus Jürgen Ernst, the dramaturge Prof. Dieter Rexroth, the pianist Alexander Krichel, the director of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival Dr. Markus Fein and the concert manager of the Dresden Frauenkirche Dr. Ralf Ruhnau. The GENUIN CEO and sound engineer Holger Busse was also present.

The Fanny Mendelssohn Förderpreis is a private initiative of Heide Schwarzweller, a native of Hamburg, and was awarded this year for the fourth time. The winner receives the possibility to a CD-production of his own conception with GENUIN.

The jury:


Christoph Heesch during the presentation of Cello1925:

To the homepage of the Fanny Mendelssohn Sponsorship Award