Symphony Concert N° 4

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).

Internationally renowned conductor Tugan Sokhiev shares his time between symphony and opera, with orchestras from all over the world. He was the Musical Director of the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse (ONCT) from 2008 to 2022 and of the prestigious Bolshoi Theater in Moscow from 2014 to 2022.

Being one of the last students of legendary teacher Ilya Musin at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Tugan Sokhiev is eager to share his expertise and thus has initiated a Conducting Academy in Toulouse. His interest in French-Russian relationships in classical music has led him to become Toulouse’s Franco-Russian festival artistic director. The Bolshoi Orchestra often plays at this festival and at the Philharmonie de Paris under his baton.

As a guest conductor, Tugan Sokhiev regularly conducts the most prominent orchestras in the world: Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestras of Vienna, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, New York, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Symphony Orchestra of the Finnish Radio, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, where he was appointed Principal Conductor between 2012 and 2017.

Tugan

Sokhiev has a rich and varied discography, including recordings  with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse on Naïve Classique (Tchaikovsky’s Fourth and Fifth Symphonies, Mussorgsky/Ravel’s »Pictures at an Exhibition«, Rachmaninov’s »Symphonic Dances«, Prokofiev’s »Peter and the Wolf«, and Stravinsky’s »The Rite of Spring« and »The Firebird«) and on Warner Classics (Shostakovitch Eighth Symphony). His recordings of Prokofiev’s »Ivan the Terrible«, Fifth Symphony and Scythian Suite with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester have been released on Sony Classical. He is currently collaborating with EuroArts on a series of DVD’s. Under the same label, he appears with the Capitole de Toulouse in a recording of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with Vadim Gluzman.

The 2021/2022 season includes engagements with the Orchestra of La Scala, Milan, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Staatskappelle at the Salzburg Easter Festival and the Munich, Berlin and New York Philharmonic orchestras. In October 2021, he will lead the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra on their tour of Russia, Korea and Japan.

David Afkham is the Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España, a position he has held since September 2019. Prior to this role, Afkham enjoyed a highly successful tenure as the orchestra's Principal Conductor since 2014.

Afkham’s career has been marked by a series of critically acclaimed performances and collaborations with some of the world's leading orchestras. He has appeared with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Staatskapelle Berlin, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Munich Philharmonic, hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, SWR Symphonieorchester, Vienna Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, as well as with the NHK Symphony Orchestra and Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra among others. On tour, he has appeared with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Staatskapelle Dresden, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Staatskapelle Dresden.

With regular appearances in North America, Afkham has previously led the Boston Symphony in Tanglewood, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, and Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra in New York.

Recent successes at the opera pit, include performances of Richard Strauss's Arabella at the Semperoper Dresden and a new production of the work at the Teatro Real, Madrid.

Highlights of the 2023/24 season include debuts with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Detroit Symphony, as well as a return to the Minnesota Orchestra, among others.

Born in Freiburg, Germany, Afkham began piano and violin lessons at an early age. He went on to study piano, music theory and conducting at the Freiburg Music University, before continuing his studies at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar. Afkham was the first recipient of the Bernard Haitink Fund for Young Talent and has assisted Maestro Haitink on several major projects, including complete symphonic cycles with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra. From 2009-2012 he was Assistant Conductor of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester. Afkham won first prize at the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition in London in 2008 and was the inaugural recipient of the Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award in 2010.