MIDDLEBURY, Vt.?Local classical music fans will enjoy a rare treat Sunday, Nov. 9, at 3 p.m. when a fresh young talent on the international music scene makes a brief stop at Middlebury College. Julia Fischer, the 20-year-old German violinist already well known in Europe and growing in popularity in the United States, will perform at 3 p.m. in the Center for the Arts Concert Hall. She will be accompanied by pianist Robert Kulek.

Fischer debuted on the German music scene in the late 1990s, quickly garnering praise and stature. One typical early review in Die Welt described her as “not a talent, but a full-fledged phenomenal violinist.” After a 1999 concert, Die Volkskrant wrote, “She arrived at interpretations that only a few mature violinists could equal.”

Fischer started her musical studies at age four with violin and piano lessons. She began her formal training at the Leopold Mozart Conservatory in Augsburg, and at age nine she entered the Munich Academy of Music, where she studied under Ana Chumachenco.

In addition to a variety of dates in German cities, Fischer this year has performed in Japan, Austria, England, Switzerland and Slovakia. Her U.S. performances include appearances with the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, and orchestras in Detroit, Baltimore and Philadelphia. She has played at New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival, London’s Wigmore Hall, and with orchestras in Paris, St. Petersburg, Vancouver and Rotterdam.

Fischer has won a number of competitions and honors, including the International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition, the Eighth Eurovision Competition for Young Instrumentalists, and the EIG Music Award. She also released a DVD last fall, “Vivaldi - The Four Seasons,” on the Opus Arte/BBC label.

After her debut recital in San Francisco two years ago, the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, “Under Fischer’s innocent demeanor lurks a virtuoso struggling to get out.” Referring to her interpretation of a Mozart violin concerto, the paper said it “was worthy of a hailstorm of

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