Caroline Fischer

Caroline Fischer (born 4 April 1984) is a German-Korean pianist. She has given concerts around the world and has received several awards and prizes.
Musical education.
Caroline Fischer received her first piano lessons at the age of three from her mother and enrolled in the Julius Stern Institute for very gifted students at the Berlin University of the Arts at the age of nine. When she was only 16, she began her studies at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" in Berlin and continued studying at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Mannheim in Germany, the Geneva University of Music in Switzerland, and the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, with the professors Pascal Devoyon, Paul Dan, Georg Sava, Ulrich Eisenlohr and Einar Steen-Nøkleberg. She completed all nine of her degrees (eight diplomas, one master's degree) with outstanding achievement, including two Konzertexamen degrees. In addition to her musical career, Fischer studied cultural and media management at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg as well as event management.
Fischer speaks five languages: German, English, French, Korean and Spanish.
Concert performances.
Fischer has given numerous successful concerts in Europe, Asia, South America and the United States and has performed in major concert halls, such as the Philharmonie Berlin, Carnegie Hall New York, Konzerthaus Berlin, Seoul Arts Center, Musikhalle Hamburg, Gumho Art Hall Seoul, Beijing Forbidden City Concert Hall, Shenzhen Concert Hall, Xinghai Concert Hall, Ruhrfestspielhaus Recklinghausen, Theater Wolfsburg, Woori Financial Art Hall Seoul, National Theatre Bangkok, Thailand Cultural Centre, Teatro Municipal de Las Condes Chile, Teatro Nacional de Costa Rica, Wiener Musikverein and the Wiener Konzerthaus. She has played as a soloist with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Korean Chamber Orchestra, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Baden-Baden Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta de Cámara de Valdivia, New Symphony Orchestra Berlin, New Philharmonie Westphalia and at the International Steinway Piano Festival, EXPO Hanover and Yeosu, Beethoven-Festival Bangkok, Korean Festival Seoul, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. Fischer gave concerts during the state visits of the former German Federal President Roman Herzog to South Korea and Mongolia and performed in Bellevue Palace Berlin for former Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Awards.
Fischer has won 39 prizes and awards (first prizes, gold medals, audience awards) in national and international competitions: Jugend musiziert, International Steinway Piano Competition Berlin, International Queen Sophie Charlotte Competition, International Competition for Young People Berlin, Köster Classic Award-Klassik Radio Hamburg, Lions Club Mannheim Music Competition, Förderpreis Berliner Salon, Vienna Grand Prize Virtuoso, American Protégé International Concerto Competition, On Stage International Classical Music Competition, International Quebec Music Competition, Classic Superstar Award and received 16 scholarships from renowned foundations: Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Academy of Arts, Berlin, Hans und Eugenia Jütting Foundation, Lutz-E. Adolf Foundation for highly gifted people, Kölner Gymnasial- und Stiftungsfonds, Franz Grothe Foundation, PE-Förderkreis, Gotthard Schierse Foundation, Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now etc.
Teaching activities.
From 2010 to 2013, Fischer was the assistant piano teacher to Prof. Einar Steen-Nøkleberg at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo and was appointed youngest visiting artist at the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. She regularly gives masterclasses in Europe, South America and Asia:Royal Danish Academy of Music, Silpakorn University, Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music Bangkok, University of Panama, University of Costa Rica, Conservatorio de Música Universidad Mayor Chile, Sichuan Conservatory of Music etc.
Discography.
Her debut CD "Caroline Fischer Piano" (2006), her second CD "Lisztomagia" (2009), her third "Pearls of Classical Music" (2017) and fourth CD "Piano Passion" (2017) were released by Genuin classics.
Other activities.
In addition to her active performing career, Fischer is the chairwoman of the Kulturclub Berlin e.V. as well as the artistic director and organizer of the Rising Stars Grand Prix – International Music Competition Berlin, which is held in the Philharmonie Berlin.
Press reviews.
"Klassik.com", 2009: “Atmospherically dense sonority [...], marked sensibility [...] her enormous serenity which wins one over, the plasticity and precision with which she shapes chains of chords, octaval transpositions, runs and the rhythmical complexity.”
Leipziger Volkszeitung, 2009: “Her approach to Liszt is shaped by the musical line, she focuses on the transparency and structure, whether it be in the magnificent transcriptions of songs by Schubert or Schumann in the dissembling Mephisto Waltz No.1.”
"Klassik-heute.com", 2009: “ Fischer satisfies all purity requirements, and invests drive and passion without losing that formal overview which these small, self-contained inner landscapes suggest to the interpreter. [...] Caroline Fischer shows nerve, displays energetic attack and, with rhythmic elasticity, steers the first part onwards with clear contours. Then, with full pianistic vividness, she proceeds to execute the undulations of the B minor tremolos reminiscent of the second St. Francis Legend. Caroline Fischer knows how to build up to pivotional climaxes, and to master them with verve and a willingness to take risks. She understands – for instance at the start of the Mephisto Waltz – how to provoke an acrid atmosphere in marked contrast to the melancholically sentimental variations of the middle section.”
"Wolfsburger Nachrichten", 2008: “Pulsating bass figures, striking chords, trills and runs. There are no technical problems for this pianist, so much is clear from the solo passages which she imbues with detailed phrasing, and the cadenzas which she masters with virtuoso brilliance. [...] like a nightingale, the pianist improvises her solo, singing out softly and brightly. The turbulent final movement is a dialogue played out between the orchestra and soloist, who performs her role with effervescent power and virtuosity. As it comes to its dance-like close, the audience erupts into tumultuous and long-lasting applause.”
"Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung", 2008: “The pianist from Berlin proved why she is already a star. It was astounding how powerfully this graceful pianist mastered the demanding Allegro. Impressive, too, with how much feeling she stroked the keys in the Adagio. The perfect ensemble playing with the orchestra was remarkable. That had class. Bravo!”
"Badische Neueste Nachrichten", 2007: “At the piano, Caroline Fischer proved herself to be a spirited interpreter, at once both commanding and sensitive. She plays Grieg with her heart and soul, in a way which is powerful and superior, and which goes to confirm her interpretation as a mature musical statement. Pulsating energy flows through her hands from piano through to forte. In the very solemn Adagio, her velvety piano was full of intensity, just as elsewhere, too, the music was brought to life under her hands. In the Allegro marcato, the lyrical section was defined with great sensitivity. In the jubilant fortissimo, she imparted a great sense of tension.”
"Resmusica.com", 2006: "Right from the very first bars, the listener is gripped by Caroline Fischer’s interpretation of Liszt’s „Campanella“. She is an exceptional artist, this much is certain. Caroline Fischer’s interpretations are profound, powerful and expressive; in every respect they do justice to the spirit and score of the composers selected. [ ... ] Without doubt, Caroline Fischer already belongs to the most outstanding great artists of her profession."
"Klassik.com", 2006: “The pianist clearly demonstrates her excellent artistic calibre with her first recording. She masters all the technical demands of the literature in a most impressive manner, with a somnambulistic certainty coupled with a controlled touch.”
Klassik-heute.com, 2006: "An interpreter whose performances decisively separate her from the mass of other talented, industrious pianists. She performs her programme, which contains a number of virtuoso masterpieces, not only with propriety, but also with a commanding degree of imagination which compels the fastidiously listener to sit up and take notice. Caroline Fischer has something to say across the whole board of the musical literature presented here, she endows the „Hungarian No. 13” with flair and gypsylike pathos, not only in the short grace notes, but also in the dance-like, frivolous finale. She knows how to colour the dramatic vicissitudes of the Don Juan fantasy and to make them stand out from one another - piano-playing of a high degree of solidity and, in the decisive moments, also of a certain ignitable, burning power."
Musical family tree.
Caroline Fischer studied i.a. with Prof. Dan and Prof. Sava. Both were pupils of György Halmos, who studied with Emil von Sauer. He was a student of Franz Liszt. Liszt received piano lessons from Czerny, who in his own youth had been a student of Beethoven and Hummel. Beethoven himself studied with Haydn.