Christoph
Heesch

Born in Berlin in 1995, the cellist began taking lessons at the age of six, laying the foundation early on for a remarkable artistic career. His training took him to leading institutions such as the renowned Julius Stern Institute, where he received crucial guidance for his musical development. This was followed by several formative years of study with Jens Peter Maintz and Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, supplemented by numerous master classes with renowned figures such as David Geringas, Wolfgang Boettcher, and László Fenyö, who had a lasting influence on his artistic style.

Christoph Heesch is currently continuing his studies at the Berlin University of the Arts in Jens Peter Maintz’s class, where he is honing his interpretive and technical mastery to the highest level. A significant milestone in his career to date was his appointment as principal cellist of the SWR Symphony Orchestra in May 2023—a position that underscores both his outstanding skill and his high standing in the international orchestral world.

The artist focuses particularly on classical concerts, which he aims to make accessible to a wider audience. The innovative concert and other music education formats of the TONALi project thus provide an ideal platform for his musical and conceptual ideas.

Christoph Heesch is a prize winner at national and international competitions: among other honors, he received second prize and the Audience Prize at the 2022 Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann. Christoph is also the first-prize winner of the 12th Domenico Gabrielli Competition and the recipient of the Mieczyslaw Weinberg Prize as well as the Special Prize for Best Music Education at the TONALi Music Competition. He was a semifinalist in the 2017 Queen Elisabeth Competition. In 2021, he was awarded the “Carl Flesch Prize” as part of the Carl Flesch Academy.

He is a scholarship recipient of the Liechtenstein Academy of Music. Since 2022, he has been playing a cello by Giovanni B. Grancino (Milan, c. 1700) from the German Musical Instrument Fund of the German Music Foundation.