Julia Fischer

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 the age of 9 she started studying with the renowned violin professor Ana Chumachenco, later becoming her successor. 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, Vladimir Jurowski, Riccardo Muti, EsaPekka Salonen, Yuri Temirkanov and Franz Welser-Möst among others.

In the 2021-22 season, Julia Fischer is an Artist in Residence with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, touring Europe with Vladimir Jurowski and the Elgar Concerto, performing a cycle of Mozart Concertos with Thomas Søndergård as well as play-directing a Mozart program and joining the orchestra players in a chamber music concert. She also embarks on another, extensive tour with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, en ensemble she has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with. Other tours include the Royal Philharmonic with Vasily Petrenko, RSB Berlin and Vladimir Jurowski. Julia Fischer also opens the season with the Lucerne Symphony under their new Chief Conductor Thomas Sanderling and collaborates with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra under Michael Tilson Thomas. She offers a recital tour of major European venues with pianist Yulianna Avdeeva as well as with her own Julia Fischer Quartet.

During the 2020-2021 season, Julia Fischer appeared in concert with the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Alan Gilbert, Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski, Bamberg Symphony under Jakub Hrůša and premiered a new piece by Pascal Zavaro with the Orchestre national de France with Cristian Măcelaru.

In 2011 Julia Fischer 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 masterclasses 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 home town of Munich.

Over the course of her artistic career Julia 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, she has recently 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 music and her her work. The six solo sonatas by Eugène Ysaye, César Franck’s Sonata in A major and Karol Szymanowski’s Sonata in D minor are all available exclusively on JF CLUB.

Julia 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 Phillipp Augustin (2018).