Frans Helmerson
November 3, 1945
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Swedish cellist Frans Helmerson was born in 1945 and began playing the cello at the age of 8. After studies in Goteborg, Rome and London, followed by a debut in Stockholm, his solo career has taken him on countless tours all over Europe as well as the USA, Asia and Russia.
Frans Helmerson has performed with many of today's finest conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Colin Davies, Neeme Järvi, Evgeni Svetlanov, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Herbert Blomstedt, Sergiu Comissiona, Frübeck de Burgos, Kurt Sanderling and Mstislav Rostropovich as well as with a number of the major orchestras, touring throughout Europe, the USA, South America, Asia and Australia.
An important aspect of his musicianship is chamber music, and he is a frequent guest at some of the most important European festivals.
He is the artistic director of the Umeea-Korsholrn International Chamber Music Festivals in the north of Sweden and Finland. Mr. Helmerson works regularly with Scandinavian orchestras as a conductor. He also holds professorships at the Musikhochschule in Cologne, where he is based, and at the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid.
Frans Helmerson's recordings are available on the BIS label including his rendering of the Dvorak Concerto, hailed by critics as one of the finest recordings of the work. His recent recording for Chandos of the two Shostakovich Cello Concerti with the Russian State Symphony Capella, Valery Polyansky conducting, has received acclaim from music critics around the world.