Special Concert with the Artist-in-Residence Julia Fischer

Within just two seasons, Petr Popelka established himself as one of the most inspiring young conductors. He has been Chief Conductor of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (KORK) since August 2020 and will become Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, starting September 2022. He is also Principal Guest Conductor of the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra Ostrava.

As a guest conductor, in the 2021/2022 season, Petr Popelka will return to the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, FOK Prague Symphony Orchestra, and Aalborg Symphony Orchestra. He will make debuts with renowned orchestras such as the Czech Philharmonic, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Staatskapelle Weimar, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen. Operatic engagements will take him to Semperoper Dresden for a new production of Shostakovich's The Nose and to Prague National Theatre for a new production of Bizet's Carmen as well

as a series of performances of Mozart's Figaro. In the summer of 2021, he made his acclaimed debut with the Wiener Symphoniker at the Wiener Konzerthaus.

In the 2019/2020 season, Petr Popelka was the first ever Conductor Fellow of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester. Having devoted himself increasingly to conducting since 2016, it was only a year later that Petr Popelka was awarded the Gstaad Menuhin Festival Academy’s Neeme Järvi Prize 2017. His new career path was particularly encouraged and nurtured by Vladimir Kiradjiev and Alan Gilbert, and master classes with Peter Eötvös, Jaap van Zweden and Johannes Schlaefli also had a formative influence on his development as a conductor.

Petr Popelka acquired his music education both in his hometown of Prague as well as in Freiburg. Between 2010 and 2019 he held the position of deputy principal double bass of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden. Next to conducting, his work as a composer plays another important role within Petr Popelka’s artistic range.

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, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Yuri Temirkanov and Franz Welser-Möst among others.

In the 2020-2021 season, Julia Fischer appears in concert with the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Alan Gilbert, Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski, premieres a new piece by Pascal Zavaro with Orchestre national de France and tours Europe with the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Ivan Fischer, Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Anthony Pappano and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and ensemble with which she has enjoyed a long-standing relationship leading from the violin. Her recitals this season focus on Bach’s solo Sonatas and Partitas which she will perform in their

entirety at the Berlin Konzerthaus as well as New York’s Lincoln Center. In North America, Julia Fischer returns to the Cleveland Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony.

In 2011 Julia Fischer founded her own Quartet with Alexander Sitkovetsky, Nils Mönkemeyer and Benjamin Nyffenegger and continues to tour extensively in this formation. Teaching is another integral part of her musical life as she continues to nurture and guide young talent including performances alongside her students.

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).