Frank Fischer
Frank Fischer, born in 1978 in Thuringia, began performing guitar concerts at the age of eight. He won various youth competitions, which led to his acceptance as a talented student at the Erfurt Music School. At fifteen he received weekly lessons from Prof. Jürgen Rost at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar.
After completing high school in 1997, he began his guitar studies with Prof. Rost, from whom he gained an extensive repertoire spanning the Renaissance to New Music. During his time in Weimar he attended courses with Zoran Dukic, Laura Young, Aniello Desiderio, Hubert Käppel, Carlo Marchione and Dusan Bogdanovic. He completed his pedagogical diploma and concert diploma in 2002, the latter being so exceptional that he received a scholarship from Sparkasse Thüringen.
Following his studies in Weimar, he continued his training at the Basel Music Academy, completing postgraduate studies with the internationally renowned guitarist Stephan Schmidt. He specialised in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and his contemporaries as well as contemporary works. Reflecting on this period, Fischer recalls: “With Stephan, music became philosophy. We discussed how a performer should think during a concert in order to keep the music at the highest energetic level and create an experience for the listener.”
In 2005 he completed his studies in Basel with two “excellent” concerts, becoming one of the few guitarists to earn a soloist diploma there. Another important influence was Ken Zuckerman, a student of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and a master of the Indian sarod. Fischer began studying with him in 2003 and is today one of his master pupils.
Since then, Frank Fischer’s artistic work has developed two distinct focal points: classical guitar and improvised Indian music. He performs concerts on both guitar and sarod at a high technical and artistic level. His repertoire continues to grow with new works by guitar composers and new ragas. He regularly appears as a soloist on guitar and sarod in Switzerland and other European countries.
