Markus Bellheim sprang into prominence after winning the 2000 International Messiaen Competition in Paris, thus securing a position as one of the most interesting and multifaceted pianists of his generation. Extensive concert activities have taken him throughout Europe, to America and the Far East. He has also been a guest in many important festivals and concert series, including the Beethoven Festival in Bonn, Kassel Music Days, La Roqued’Anthéron, Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, and the Shanghai Music Spring Festival. Bellheim has been invited to perform the standard concerto repertoire with the Hessen Radio Symphony Orchestra, the SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg, Munich Radio Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, and the Malmö Symphony Orchestra. He also performs contemporary music and has appeared with Ensemble Modern, and Ensemble Intercontemporain. In recent years, he has played under the batons of Sylvain Cambreling, Jonathan Nott, Karl Anton Rickenbacher and has worked with composers Steve Reich, György Kurtág and Wolfgang Rihm. Bellheim is also avalued chamber music partner of Ingolf Turban, Peter Lukas Graf, Eduard Brunner and the Minguet Quartet. Stylistic versatility is one of the main aspects of Bellheim’s playing, and his particular interest in contemporary music is balanced by his intensive engagement with the works of the classical and romantic periods. In his concerts, he seeks to place modern works alongside the standard repertoire, creating new connections between them and questioning the perceived boundaries that have long separated them. Markus Bellheim’s performances of the complete piano music of Olivier Messiaen have repeatedly drawn an enthusiastic response from international audiences, and he has performed the composer’s most important work for piano and orchestra, the Turangalîla Symphony, throughout the world. Following his critically acclaimed 2008 recording of the solo piano music of Wolfgang Rihm, Bellheim is now busy recording the complete piano works of Messiaen for the NEOS label, in co-operation with Hessen Radio. The first volume, Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus was released in September of 2009. For NEOS, he has also recorded the piano concerto by Bruno Maderna with the Hessen Radio Symphony Orchestra.
