Rebecca Fischer

Praised for her “beautiful tone and nuanced phrasing” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), violinist Rebecca Fischer is sought after as a highly expressive, intuitive performer. She was first violinist of the Chiara Quartet for eighteen years until the group’s final season in 2018. She is currently the concertmaster of Baroklyn, an ensemble run by pianist Simone Dinnerstein, and a member of The Afield, a multidisciplinary collaboration with visual artist/writer Anthony Hawley. Fischer has premiered major new works by composers Gabriela Lena Frank, Philip Glass, Lisa Bielawa, Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, Paola Prestini, Mathew Fuerst, Augusta Read Thomas, Byron Au Yong, and Pierre Jalbert, among others. Performance highlights include the complete Bartók Quartets at Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, several complete Beethoven quartet cycles, U.S. tours of clubs and bars of “Chamber Music in Any Chamber,” and collaborations with The Juilliard and Saint Lawrence Quartets, Simone Dinnerstein, Roger Tapping, Robert Levin, and the electronic duo Matmos. Recent solo engagements include Miller Theatre at Columbia University, The Stone, and the University of Oregon.

Fischer is the Executive Director and Director of Senior Camp at Greenwood Music Camp. She is on the faculty of Mannes School of Music, where she serves as co-chair of the string department. Fischer received her B.A. from Columbia University and M.M. and A.D. from The Juilliard School and has held residencies at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Harvard University. Her writing on artistry and creativity is published regularly in Strings, and her book of personal essays The Sound of Memory: Themes from a Violinist’s Life (Mad Creek Books, the Ohio University State Press) was released in April of 2022.