Julia Fischer

German classical violinist, pianist

Julia Fischer (born 15 June 1983) is a German violinist and pianist.[1]

Julia Fischer
Julia Fisher late 2007
Julia Fisher late 2007
Background information
Born (1983-06-15) 15 June 1983 (age 40)
Munich, West Germany
GenresClassical
Occupation(s)Violinist
InstrumentsViolin

Biography change

Julia Fischer, born in Munich, is of German-Slovakian parentage. Her mother came from the German minority in Slovakia and emigrated from Košice in Slovakia to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1972. Her German father moved in the same year from Eastern Saxony to West Germany.

In fall 2004 the label PentaTone released Julia Fischer's first CD: Russian violin concertos with Yakov Kreizberg and the Russian National Orchestra.

Julia 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. At the age of nine Julia Fischer went to the Munich Academy of Music.

Among the most prestigious competitions that Julia 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 Julia Fischer was awarded the “Prix d‘Espoir” by the Foundation of European Industry. She recently had the opportunity to play Mozart's own violin in the room in which he was born at Salzburg to honour his 250th birthday.

Her repertoire (from Bach to Penderecki, from Vivaldi to Shostakovich), contains over 40 works with orchestra and about 60 works of chamber music.

Instrument change

At the moment she plays on a Guadagnini (See link below) made in 1750 which she bought in summer 2004.[3] For four years since 2000, she had been using a Stradivarius, the 1716 Booth, on loan from Nippon Music Foundation. Before she had the Strad, she played 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 which she uses when she needs to send the Tourte bow away to be rehaired.[4]

Prizes and honours change

Julia 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."[5]
  • 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

Recordings change

After releasing ten CDs for PentaTone her eleventh CD was released by Decca.[6][7][8]

Influences change

She considers Maxim Vengerov, Evgeny Kissin, and Glenn Gould to be among her greatest influences.

Release Composer/Title of Work Performer Label/Catalog No. Format
August 2002 Johannes Brahms EMI Classics

5573772

CD
October 2002 Antonio Vivaldi 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 Violin Concerto No. 1 (Prokofiev)|No. 1 in D major, Op. 19
  • Glazunov Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 82
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 PentaTone

PTC 5186 064

Hybrid SACD
June 2006 Felix Mendelssohn PentaTone

PTC 5186 085

Hybrid SACD
September 2006 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart PentaTone

PTC 5186 094

Hybrid SACD
November 2006 Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
  • Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35
  • Sérénade mélancolique, Op. 26
  • ValseScherzo, Op. 34
  • Souvenir d’un lieu cher, Op. 42
PentaTone

PTC 5186 095

Hybrid SACD
March 2007 Johannes Brahms
  • Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77
  • Double Concerto in A minor, Op. 102
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 Decca

DEC B001249002

CD

Family change

Mother: Viera Fischer, maiden name Krenková, born in Nové Zámky Slovakia, pianist Father: Frank-Michael Fischer, a university-educated mathematician

References change

  1. http://www.signandsight.com/features/1636.html
  2. What's On in London, 20 April 2005
  3. WQXR interview on January 4, 2006[permanent dead link]
  4. "Strings magazine, May 2006, No.139". Archived from the original on 2007-08-17. Retrieved 2008-02-27.
  5. Russian Violin Concertos CD review from Gramophone magazine, January 2005
  6. Violinkonzerte Bwv 1043/1041/1042/1060, Amazon.de
  7. Bach: Violin Concertos / Julia Fischer, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, et al. CD, Cd Universe
  8. Presto Classical Biography, Presto Classical

Other websites change