Widely considered one of this century’s greatest violists, in fact one of the greatest from any century, Julia Fischer returned to London this week to perform with ‘the crowning glory of Russian culture’, the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall.
Not content with being a world-class violinist, Julia is also an outstanding concert pianist.

Born in Germany to a very musical family, she began playing the violin at the age of three and gained international recognition at a young age, winning a number of prestigious competitions including the 1995 International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition and the 8th Eurovision Competition for Young Instrumentalists the following year. Julia played a Stradivarius, the 1716 Booth, on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation for four years before changing to her current instrument, a 1742 Guadaguini. She also has a violin Philipp Augustin 2011 and usually uses a Benoit Rolland bow.

In 2018 she was listed by Classic FM as one of the twenty-five greatest violists of all time. When not performing she teaches in her hometown at the Munich University of Music and Performing Arts. In his review for the Evening Standard, Nick Kimberley wrote, “… a very mobile player, (Fischer) almost dancing round the stage-captured a free wheeling, improvisatory quality: in the third movement, the interplay between her and the wind players was delightfully fresh and frisky. Amazingly enough Fischer returned after the interval, not as a soloist, but as one of the galley slaves in the string section. Few superstars are willing to do that… and seemed to enjoy it.”

Julia signed and returned my drawing for me after I left it at the Artists Entrance.