Julia Fischer (born yes(yes--)) is a German violinist. By training she is also a professional pianist, but she rarely appears as such in public. [1]

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Biography

Julia Fischer, born in Munich, Germany, is of German-Slovakian parentage. Her mother, Viera Fischer (née Krenková), came from the German minority in Slovakia and immigrated from Košice, Slovakia to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1972. Her father, Frank-Michael Fischer, a mathematician who was born in East Germany, moved in the same year from Eastern Saxony to West Germany.

Fischer began her studies before her fourth birthday, when she received her first violin lesson from Helge Thelen; a few months later she started studying the piano with her mother, Viera Fischer. Fischer said, "my mother's a pianist and I wanted to play the piano as well, but as my elder brother also played the piano, she thought it would be nice to have another instrument in the family. I agreed to try out the violin and stayed with it." ^[2] She began her formal violin education at the Leopold Mozart Conservatory in Augsburg, under the tutelage of Lydia Dubrowskaya. At the age of nine Julia Fischer was admitted to the Munich Academy of Music, where she continues to work with Ana Chumachenco.

As a teenager she was inspired mostly by Glenn Gould and by Evgeny Kissin and Maxim Vengerov. ^[3]

She has worked with internationally acclaimed conductors, such as Lorin Maazel, Christoph Eschenbach, Yakov Kreizberg, Yuri Temirkanov, Sir Neville Marriner, David Zinman, Zdenek Mácal, Jun Märkl, Ruben Gazarian, Marek Janowski, Herbert Blomstedt, Michael Tilson Thomas and with a variety of top German, American, British, Polish, French, Italian, Swiss, Dutch, Norwegian, Russian, Japanese, Czech and Slovakian orchestras. Julia Fischer has performed in most European countries, the United States, Brazil and Japan; in concerts broadcast on TV and radio in every major European country, as well as on many US, Japanese and Australian radio stations.

In 2003 Julia Fischer—having already had numerous performances in the US for the previous 6 years—appeared with the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Lorin Maazel playing the Sibelius Violin concerto in New York's Lincoln Center as well as the Mendelssohn Violin concerto in Vail, CO. Her 2003 Carnegie Hall debut received standing ovations for her performance of Brahms Double concerto with Lorin Maazel and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Fischer has been on orchestral tours with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Herbert Blomstedt and the Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Dresden Philharmonic.

In fall 2004 the label PentaTone released Julia Fischer's first CD: Russian violin concertos with Yakov Kreizberg and the Russian National Orchestra. It received ravishing reviews, climbed into to the top five bestselling classical records in Germany within a few days and received an "Editor's Choice" from "Gramophone" in January 2005. Other critically acclaimed recordings include sonatas and partitas for solo violin of J. S. Bach, the Mozart violin concerti and the Tchaikovsky violin concerto.

200px Amsterdam, December 2007 Among the most prestigious competitions that Fischer has won are the International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition under Lord Yehudi Menuhin's supervision, where she won both the first prize and the special prize for best Bach solo work performance in 1995 and the Eighth Eurovision Competition for Young Instrumentalists in 1996, which was broadcast in 22 countries from Lisbon. In 1997, Fischer was awarded the “Prix d'Espoir” by the Foundation of European Industry. She had the opportunity to play Mozart's own violin in the room in which he was born at Salzburg to honor the 250th anniversary of his birth.

Her active repertoire spans from Bach to Penderecki, from Vivaldi to Shostakovitch, containing over 40 works with orchestra and about 60 works of chamber music.

On January 1, 2008, Fischer had her unexpected public debut as a pianist, performing Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie at the Alte Oper, Frankfurt. The concert was conducted by Matthias Pintscher, who stepped in for Sir Neville Marriner. On the same occasion she also performed the Violin Concerto no. 3 in B minor by Camille Saint-Saëns.

Instrument

Currently (2009) she plays on a Guadagnini 1742. ^[4] For four years since 2000, she had been using a Stradivarius, the 1716 Booth, on a loan from Nippon Music Foundation, an instrument that had previously belonged to Iona Brown. Before the Stradivarius, she had a Guarneri del Gesù and a Gagliano. She uses two bows, one a copy of the Heifetz Tourte by the Viennese maker Thomas Gerbeth, the other a French bow when she needs to rehair the Tourte. ^[5]

Prizes and honors

Fischer has won five prizes for her violin playing and three prizes for her piano playing a.o. at Jugend musiziert . She won all eight competitions she entered.

• 1995: 1st Prize at the international Yehudi Menuhin competition, in addition to a special prize, "Best Bach Solo-work". Music journalist Edward Greenfield said, "I first heard Julia Fischer in 1995 as a 12-year-old in the Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition. Not only did she win outright in the junior category, she was manifestly more inspired than anyone in the senior category." ^[6]
• 1996: Winner 8th Eurovision Competition for Young Instrumentalists in Lisbon
• 1997: Prix d'Espoir the prize of the European music industry
• 1997: Soloist prize of the festival "Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania"
• 1998: EIG Music Award
• 2000: Promotion prize Deutschlandfunks
• 2005: ECHO Klassik Award for the CD Russian Violin Concertos
• 2005: Winner of the Beethoven ring
• 2006: During the celebrations of Mozart's birthday in his hometown Salzburg, Fischer played on Mozart's violin (with Daniel Müller-Schott and Jonathan Gilad). About the event she says: "During the first hour I couldn't play anything I wanted, because during the days of Mozart the violins were a lot shorter and I wasn't used to that".
• 2006: "BBC Music Magazine Awards 2006 Best Newcomer" for the CD Johann Sebastian Bach, Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin (BWV 1001–1006). The jury said, “There are many recordings of Bach's works for solo violin but rarely do they reach such breathtaking heights of musicianship as this one. Julia Fischer is an incredible technician and soulful musician who does not let an ounce of ego come between the music and the listener.”
• 2007: The Classic FM Gramophone Awards Artist of the Year.
• 2007: ECHO Klassik Award for the CD Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
• 2009: MIDEM Classical Award as "Instrumentalist of 2008".

Recordings

After releasing ten CDs for PentaTone her eleventh CD was released by Decca. ^{[7] [8] [9]}

A new CD with Bach Violin Concertos (BWV 1043, BWV 1041, BWV 1042, BWV 1060) was released in January 2009. Fischer has moved to a new label: Decca.

Release	Composer/Title of Work	Performer	Label/Catalog No.	Format
August 2002	Johannes Brahms Piano Quartets Nos. 1 & 3	Tatjana Masurenko (viola) Gustav Rivinius (cello) Lars Vogt (piano)	EMI Classics 5573772	CD
October 2002	Antonio Vivaldi The Four Seasons	Academy of St. Martin in the Fields	Opus Arte/BBC	DVD
October 2004	Russian Violin Concertos Khachaturian Violin Concerto in D minor, op. 46 Prokofiev No. 1 in D major, Op. 19 Glazunov Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 82	Russian National Orchestra Yakov Kreizberg (conductor)	PentaTone PTC 5186 059	Hybrid SACD
May 2005	Johann Sebastian Bach Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, BWV 1001–1006		PentaTone PTC 5186 072	Hybrid SACD
September 2005	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Violin Concertos Nos 3 & 4 Adagio in E major, K. 261 Rondo in B flat, K. 269	Netherlands Chamber Orchestra Yakov Kreizberg (conductor)	PentaTone PTC 5186 064	Hybrid SACD
June 2006	Felix Mendelssohn Piano Trios Nos. 1 & 2	Jonathan Gilad (piano) Daniel Müller-Schott (cello)	PentaTone PTC 5186 085	Hybrid SACD
September 2006	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Violin Concertos Nos 1, 2 & 5	Netherlands Chamber Orchestra Yakov Kreizberg (conductor)	PentaTone PTC 5186 094	Hybrid SACD
November 2006	Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 Sérénade mélancolique , Op. 26 Valse–Scherzo , Op. 34 Souvenir d'un lieu cher , Op. 42	Russian National Orchestra Yakov Kreizberg (conductor)	PentaTone PTC 5186 095	Hybrid SACD
March 2007	Johannes Brahms Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77 Double Concerto in A minor, Op. 102	Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra Yakov Kreizberg (conductor) Daniel Müller-Schott (cello)	PentaTone PTC 5186 066	Hybrid SACD
October 2007	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Sinfonia concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra in E flat, K. 364 Rondo in C major, K. 373 Concertone for 2 Violins and Orchestra in C major, K. 190	Netherlands Chamber Orchestra Yakov Kreizberg (conductor) Gordan Nikolic (violin) (K. 190) /(viola) (K. 364)	PentaTone PTC 5186 098	Hybrid SACD
January 2009	Johann Sebastian Bach Concert for two Violinists and Orchestra in D-Moll, BWV 1043 Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041 Violin Concerto in E major, BWV 1042 Concert for Violin and Oboe in C-Moll, BWV 1060	Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Alexander Sitkovetsky (Violin) Andrey Rubtsov (Oboe)	Decca DEC B001249002	CD

References

1. www.signandsight.com, January 10, 2008
2. ''What's On in London'', April 20, 2005
3. {{de icon}}"Man darf nicht spielen, um bewundert zu werden", Welt Online (19-01-2009)
4. WQXR interview on January 4, 2006
5. Strings magazine, May 2006, No.139
6. ''Russian Violin Concertos'' CD review from Gramophone magazine, January 2005
7. Violinkonzerte Bwv 1043/1041/1042/1060, Amazon.de
8. Bach: Violin Concertos / Julia Fischer, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, et al. CD, Cd Universe
9. Presto Classical Biography, Presto Classical