One of the world’s leading violinists, Julia Fischer is a versatile musician also known for her extraordinary abilities as a concert pianist, a chamber musician and a violin teacher.
Born in Munich to German-Slovakian parents, Julia received her first violin lessons at the age of 3 and her first piano lessons shortly after from her mother, Viera Fischer. At age 9, she started studying with the renowned violin professor Ana Chumachenco, later becoming her successor at the University of Munich.
The first prize at the international Yehudi Menuhin Competition in 1995 was one of the milestones in her early career and she has since performed with top orchestras worldwide, frequently working with renowned conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Alan Gilbert, Jakub Hrůša, Vladimir Jurowski, Juanjo Mena, Riccardo Muti, Vasily Petrenko, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Thomas Søndergård, Yuri Temirkanov, Michael Tilson-Thomas, and Franz Welser-Möst.
During the 2022-23 season, Julia Fischer serves as Artist in Residence of the Staatskapelle Dresden, embarking on a tour under Christian Thielemann as well as performing a solo recital and chamber music with members of the orchestra. This season also sees her working twice with Riccardo Muti, first with the Orchestre National de France in October, then with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in February.
She celebrates 20 years of collaborating with the cellist Daniel Müller-Schott, performing the Brahms Double Concerto with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra under Juanjo Mena, before returning to the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, also with Juanjo Mena, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana with Markus Poschner and the Warsaw Philharmonic led by Andrey Boreyko. Julia Fischer continues her collaboration with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and in the summer she returns to the Schubertiade to make chamber music and joins the EU Youth Orchestra and Antonio Pappano on a tour of Europe.
Fischer is an enthusiastic chamber musician. In 2010, she founded her own Quartet with Alexander Sitkovetsky, Nils Mönkemeyer and Benjamin Nyffenegger and continues to tour extensively in this formation. Her concert at the Alte Oper Frankfurt in 2010 marked her debut as a pianist: she performed the Grieg Piano Concerto in the second half of the concert, having played Saint-Saëns’s Violin Concerto No. 3 in the first half. The performance is available on a Decca-released DVD.
Teaching is another integral part of her musical life as she continues to nurture and guide young talent including performances alongside her students. She regularly gives master classes at Musikferien at Lake Starnberg (Starnberger See). In 2019, Julia Fischer founded a children’s orchestra, the Kindersinfoniker, teaming up with Johannes X. Schachtner and pianist Henri Bonamy in her hometown of Munich.
Over her artistic career Fischer has released numerous critically acclaimed and awarded CD and DVD recordings, first under the Pentatone label and later under Decca. Breaking new ground in the classical music market, in 2017 she launched her own music platform, the JF Club, which offers exclusive audio and video footage, previews of her new recordings, as well as personal insight into her music and her work. César Franck’s Sonata in A major, Karol Szymanowski’s Sonata in D Minor and Beethoven’s String Trio in C Minor are all available exclusively on her own music platform. In August 2021, Fischer released a limited vinyl recording of Eugène Ysaye’s Sonatas as an exclusive JF Club edition in collaboration with Hänssler Classic.
Fischer holds numerous awards, including the Federal Cross of Merit, Gramophone Award and the German Culture Prize. She plays a violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (1742), as well as an instrument made by Philipp Augustin (2018).
April 2023
Please note: Biographies are based on information provided to the CSO by the artists or their representatives. More current information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.
