A German violin prodigy, and an American String Project
A wunderkind at Benaroya: The young Munich-born violinist Julia Fischer (born in 1983) makes her Seattle Symphony debut at 7:30 p.m. Thursday with the Dvorák Violin Concerto.
With music director Gerard Schwarz on the podium, the program (repeated at 1 p.m. June 16, 8 p.m. June 17 and 2 p.m. June 18) will include Walton's "Belshazzar's Feast," featuring baritone soloist Charles Robert Austin, and the "Last Round" of Osvaldo Golijov. (The June 18 concert is a "Musically Speaking" event, with commentary by Schwarz; that program has been shortened, eliminating the Golijov piece.)
Fischer, who started violin studies at 3, has won several competitions, including the International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition and the Eighth Eurovision Competition for Young Instrumentalists. At 9, she began studies at the Munich Academy of Music, where she still studies with Ana Chumachenko.
Fischer will soon do some teaching of her own: An appointment on the faculty of the Frankfurt College of Music and Performing Arts begins this fall.
Fischer's New York Philharmonic debut came in 2003, when she played the Sibelius Concerto under the baton of Lorin Maazel. Her violin is a 1750 Guadagnini.
The Fischer discography includes a DVD of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons," plus Russian concertos and Bach and Brahms repertoire. The success of her Mozart concertos disc, released in conjunction with the composer's 250th birthday, was probably a factor in Fischer's appearance on the cover of the May issue of Strings magazine. (She also has an interesting Web site, www.juliafischer.com.)
For tickets to Fischer's Benaroya Hall concerts with the Seattle Symphony, call 206-215-4747 or visit www.seattlesymphony.org.
More TASP concertsFans of chamber music and fine string playing have two more opportunities to hear The American String Project, a conductorless string orchestra that draws players from all across the country each June for three concerts of transcribed string-quartet repertoire.
Tonight's concert has the Mozart G Minor Quintet, Anton Webern's Rondo and "Langsamer Satz" (Slow Movement) and the Dvorák A-Flat Major Quartet. The program starts at 7:30 p.m. in the Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall, where all the TASP concerts are held.
On Sunday at 2 p.m., concertgoers will hear commentary by Gerard Schwarz, as well as works of Dvorák and Shostakovich. (That program has changed slightly since the original announcement.)
This year's TASP lineup includes some newcomers: violinist Harumi Rhodes of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center II; cellist Arek Tesarczyk of the Minnesota Orchestra; violinist Eriko Sato of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra; and cellist Julie Albers, who made her solo debut with the Cleveland Orchestra at 18.
The roster also includes Frank Almond, plus Carol Sindell, Toby Appel, Theodore Arm, Stephanie Chase, Eugenia Choi, Yoko Fujita, Joseph Gottesman, David Harding and Maria Larionoff.
Tickets are available at 206-292-ARTS, www.ticketmaster.com or in person at the Benaroya Hall box office, just off the corner of Third Avenue and Union Street inside the hall (cash or checks only). Discounted prices are available for seniors, students with ID and children 6-10.
Melinda Bargreen: mbargreen@seattletimes.com
