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| Thierry Fischer biography |
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| Thierry Fischer biography (French) |
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| Thierry Fischer discography |
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| Thierry Fischer press quotes |
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Thierry Fischer (credit: Scott Jarvie) |
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Thierry Fischer (credit: Scott Jarvie) |
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Thierry Fischer (credit: Scott Jarvie) |
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Thierry Fischer (credit: Scott Jarvie) |
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Thierry Fischer (credit: Scott Jarvie) |
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Thierry Fischer (credit: Scott Jarvie) |
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Thierry Fischer (credit: Scott Jarvie) |
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Thierry Fischer (credit: Scott Jarvie) |
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Thierry Fischer (credit: Scott Jarvie) |
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Thierry Fischer opens his first season as Music Director of the Utah Symphony
Thierry Fischer opened his first season as the new Music Director of the Utah Symphony in September 2010. His opening concert programme, given on 23 and 24 September in the Orchestra's home at the excellent Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City, featured Hilary Hahn playing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, framed by Stravinsky's festive Feux d'artifice and ending with his Firebird Suite.
MEDIA
See below for a YouTube film made by violinist Hilary Hahn about working with Thierry Fischer:
REVIEWS
There was a real buzz of anticipation surrounding Fischer's appointment. The opening concerts were critically acclaimed in the press
Fantastic 'Fireworks' in symphony music director Thierry Fischer's debut
Deseret News
This weekend marks the first appearance of the new season of the Utah Symphony's new music director, Thierry Fischer. With all the attention his arrival in Salt Lake City has been getting, the Swiss conductor had a lot to live up to. And, needless to say, he exceeded all expectations.
For his season debut, Fischer chose a particularly demanding program that included two works of one of his icons, Igor Stravinsky — "Fireworks" and the complete "Firebird" ballet score. Both are tour de force works for the orchestra, and Fischer elicited stunning playing from his musicians. It was an auspicious start to what unquestionably will be a remarkable collaboration.
"Fireworks" is one of Stravinsky's earliest pieces. It's almost never heard in the concert hall, no doubt owing to the fact that it demands utmost precision and a keen sense of rhythm from the orchestra. It's almost as if conductors don't feel that the brief, five-minute piece is worth the effort.
But not so Fischer. The 52-year-old conductor got a forceful and dynamic reading that captured the brilliance of the orchestral colors and the vibrancy of the rhythms.
No less brilliant was Fischer's interpretation of "The Firebird." It was perceptive and brought insight into the sprawling score. The new music director underscored the impressionistic leanings of the score in his account. But unlike "Fireworks," the impressionism in "The Firebird" has a distinctly Russian flavor in the angularity of the themes and the boldness of the harmonies.
The orchestra was in top form here. It played with conviction as it maneuvered around the challenges of the music with precision, clean intonation and clarity. It was a harbinger of the great things to come with Fischer at the helm.
Soloist this weekend is one of the violin world's brightest young stars, Hilary Hahn. At Friday's concert, she gave a breathtaking performance of Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's concerto, easily the most famous and best known violin concerto in the repertoire.
Time came to a standstill when Hahn played. There is nothing she can't do, and everything she does is mesmerizing. Her exquisite musicality and astonishing technique served her well here. She made every note and every phrase sing. Her interpretation was quite lyrical, more so than one normally expects in the Tchaikovsky. And her reading isn't a run-of-the mill interpretation, either. Her tempos were slower, and she found lyricism where most violinists don't even look for it. And it brought a luminosity to the work that was different and utterly fascinating. One got a glimpse of what to expect with her Tchaikovsky in her recently released CD of the work. It works there, and it certainly worked at Friday's performance.
After repeated curtain calls, Hahn offered a short encore, a gorgeously played movement from one of J.S. Bach's partitas for solo violin.
Hahn, orchestra play with fire
Salt Lake Tribune
The Utah Symphony opened its season in high style two weeks ago, but you might not have guessed it from the celebratory buzz in Abravanel Hall on Friday night. The atmosphere was one of a second opening night as a sold-out crowd, or close to it, turned out to greet new music director Thierry Fischer in his first appearance of the season.
Fischer made a fiery statement in his season debut, programming two vibrant works by Igor Stravinsky. The colorful four-minute “Fireworks” lit the fuse, and the complete “Firebird” ballet closed the evening with a bang. In between came a stellar performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with renowned soloist Hilary Hahn.
Hahn’s artistry, even more than her considerable star power, has made her Abravanel Hall appearances hot tickets ever since she made her Utah Symphony debut at age 13 on New Year’s Eve 1992. Her performance of the Tchaikovsky concerto with Fischer and the orchestra on Friday was as notable for its interpretive power as for her formidable technique. She played with a luscious but pure tone; articulation and intonation were superb, and she produced some of the loveliest trills you’ll ever hear.
Fischer and the orchestra matched the soloist’s songlike phrasing with a full-bodied accompaniment. Finely detailed woodwind playing in the slow movement complemented Hahn’s dusky tone to marvelous effect. The conductor and soloist ramped up the momentum in the concerto’s final pages, crossing the finish line with a bracing surge of energy.
A raucous standing ovation coaxed Hahn back for an encore, an exquisitely phrased reading of the Sarabande from Bach’s D Minor Partita.
An augmented orchestra, including three harps, returned after intermission for “The Firebird.” The suites that Stravinsky later excerpted from his 1910 ballet score are concert-hall staples, but it was a treat to hear the full ballet. From the foreboding approach of the low strings in the introduction to the triumphant finale, Fischer didn’t seem to miss a single nuance. Bassoonist Lori Wike’s solo in the Berceuse, Bruce Gifford’s horn playing and Doug Wolf’s xylophone were among the many highlights.
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