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“With my club, I am trying to fill a new, younger audience with enthusiasm for classical music," says Julia Fischer.
Though many classical music artists like to connect with their fans on social media, violinist Julia Fischer has taken a different route.
“I really can’t deal with social media — I don’t use Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, but I wanted to be able to get in contact with my audience in a more controlled, and maybe less frequent, way than many of my colleagues,” Fischer said in a recent interview with the Violin Channel. (She does maintain a Facebook page, however.) Fischer will perform Schumann’s Violin Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, under Riccardo Muti, in concerts Feb. 23-25 (and on tour Feb. 26 at the Kauffman Center in Kansas City, Missouri).
In 2017, she established the JF Club, an online platform that allows her to communicate directly with her fans. It presents exclusive audio and video footage, plus personal insights into her music and her work. JF Club is available only to subscribers; the cost is 5 euros per month or 50 euros annually (approximately $5.4 or $54 in U.S. currency).
“I have been involved in the classical music business for 20 years, and during this time, I have encountered various inhibitions that make it difficult for people to access the wonderful experience of a classical concert,” Fischer said in 2017. “Some of them shy away from unknown repertoire and have too much respect for anything that is not Mozart, Brahms or Beethoven. Others are essentially interested in classical music, but are deterred by the seemingly rigid rituals of attending a concert, which they might consider awkward, even old-fashioned.
“With my club, I am trying to fill a new, younger audience with enthusiasm for classical music and at the same time make new repertoire accessible in an uncomplicated and direct way.”
Though Fischer supports digital outreach, the ultimate experience is live music. Streaming might be here to stay, but she insists that “nothing can replace the experience of a performance in a concert hall.”
