Fischer has conducted orchestras across the globe, notably the Cleveland Orchestra, the Boston, Atlanta and Cincinnati Symphonies, London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Maggio Musicale Firenze among others. He has performed and commissioned many world premieres, and works with the London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Intercontemporain as well as with other leading chamber orchestras such as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Swedish Chamber.
April 2024 saw the launch of Frank Martin: Odyssey of which Fischer is Artistic Director. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of his compatriot’s death Fischer has curated a series of concerts running through to the end of 2026 in which every note of Martin’s oeuvre performed in Geneva. As part of the festival in May 2025 he conducted the world premiere of a newly commissioned orchestration of the ballet Die Blaue Blume with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne in their main season and at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw.
Highlights of the 2025/26 season include Wozzeck in concert with the Sao Paulo Symphony, and a return to the Amsterdam Concertgebouw with OSCyL. With both orchestras he will conduct Beethoven 9 in a radical pairing with Stockhausen’s Gruppen. Guest appearances include performances with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
Concluding a transformative 15 years in Utah - including the orchestra’s first visit to Carnegie Hall for the first time in 40 years, a Saint-Saëns cycle on Hyperion and many other highlights – in 2023 Fischer released on Hyperion Messiaen’s Des Canyons aux Étoiles (directly inspired by the awe-inspiring landscape of Utah State). The disc was shortlisted for the 2023 Gramophone Awards (orchestral category). In 2025 he conducted the orchestra in a two-week Mahler festival, and in Varese’s Ameriques at the League of American Orchestra conference, hosted in 2025 in Salt Lake City.
Whilst Principal Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales 2006-2012, Fischer appeared every year at the BBC Proms, toured internationally, and recorded for Hyperion, Signum and Orfeo. In 2012 he won the ICMA Award for his Hyperion recording of Frank Martin’s Der Sturm with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus. His discography also includes a Beethoven disc with the London Philharmonic on the Aparté label.
Fischer started out as Principal Flute in Hamburg and at the Zurich Opera. His conducting career began in his 30s when he replaced an ailing colleague, subsequently directing his first few concerts with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe where he was Principal Flute under Claudio Abbado. He spent his apprentice years in Holland and became Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Ulster Orchestra 2001-2006. He was Principal Guest of the Seoul Philharmonic 2017-2020 and Chief Conductor (now Honorary Guest) of the Nagoya Philharmonic 2008-2011.
2025/26 season - 496 words. Not to be altered without permission from Intermusica.