Florian Heinisch was born in 1990 in Johann Sebastian Bach’s birth town Eisenach. The young piano virtuoso inherited his extraordinary talent from his grandmother, Barbara Heinisch, an organ player. Heinisch is considered to be one of the most promising german pianists. Reviews were enthusiastic: “An unforgettable evening” (“Süddeutsche Zeitung”), “Incredible potential… magnificent and technically brillant” (“Hamburger Abendblatt”), “highly virtuosic and impressive” (“Lübecker Nachrichten”). Heinisch played recitals in many prestigious concert halls, including Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Wigmore Hall in London, Konzerthaus Berlin or Salle Cortot in Paris. His highly acclaimed debut concert in the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie included Beethovens famous “Hammerklaviersonate”. Heinisch attracted a great deal of attention with “The Unplayed Concert”, evoking the young pianist Karlrobert Kreiten. Kreiten was arrested and murdered by the Gestapo in 1943, before he could play a concert in Heidelberg. In 2016, he performed in the German Embassy in Baghdad with Iraqi cellist Karim Wasfi.
As a tribute to Ludwig van Beethoven and celebrating Beethovens 250th birthday, Heinisch has conceived his recital program “Beethoven – to the Immortal Beloved”. A CD recording of this recital, including e.g. the “Hammerklaviersonate”, has been released in March 2020, during the global Corona crisis.
Heinisch gave concerts with renowned conductors like Kent Nagano, he also played in numerous festivals in Europe. Heinisch enjoys combining extraordinary concert programs, mixing pieces of the classical core repertoire and avantgarde music. His comprehensive understanding of works by contemporary composers are reflected by his concert programs which regularly include works by Schönberg, Ives and Ligeti. Heinisch likes to cooperate with composers during the genesis of their new pieces. This intensive collaboration is also very influential for the interpretation of more traditional pieces: For Heinisch, piano playing rather resembles an improvisation than a pure reproduction of sheet music. Heinischs own composition “Chimères” premiered in the Gasteig in Munich, a few month before the German public radio station MDR commissioned “Ludus Bacchus”.
From 2010 bis 2014, Heinisch was a student at Hochschule für Musik und Theater “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” in Leipzig with Dietmar Nawroth and Gerald Fauth. He continued his studies with Sontraud Speidel in Karlsruhe. Master classes with renowned pianists complemented his studies. Heinisch also worked with the jazz pianist Richard Beirach from New York, who was impressed by his extraordinary improvisational abilities. Heinisch is an award winner of prestigious competitions, e.g. the International Grotrian-Steinweg Competition in Braunschweig, the Kleiner Schumann-Wettbewerb and the Bachwettbewerb Köthen. In 2006 and 2009, he received a scholarship for highly talented children and adolescents in Thuringia.
His next project is dedicated to Hamburg and includes works from female and male composers who had intensive relations with the city he choose to live in. “The Hamburg Recital” can be listened to from 2024 on in various cities.