On Sunday, December 27th, at 4:30 PM, the Detmold harpist Antonia Josephine Fischer will perform in the Bergkirchen church with her father, Professor Eckhard Fischer, on the violin. The two combine Christmas music with non-Christmas repertoire, creating a reflective and atmospheric afternoon in a Christmas-like atmosphere. The program includes Bach's Sonata in G major for harp, as well as Spohr's Sonata in c minor for violin and harp. Also featured are Grandjany's Rhapsody for harp and "An Old Christmas Song." The concert concludes with Saint-Saëns' Fantasie, Op. 121, for violin and harp. Tickets for €10/€15/€20 can be ordered from 6 December at
[email protected] or purchased at the box office from 3:30 PM. Antonia Fischer won first prize with the highest score at the "Jugend musiziert" competition at the age of seven. This success was not the only one: Antonia is now a multiple prize winner in national and international competitions, including the VDH competition, the Felix Godefroid Harp Competition in Belgium, the International Youth Music Competitions (USA), and the American Classical Young Musician Award (USA). She won first prize at the 12th International Harp Competition in Limoges, France. Since she was twelve years old, Antonia has studied at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold, in the class of Godelieve Schrama. In 2023, Antonia gave her first solo concert with an orchestra. She performed with the YMTE Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Sebastian Weigle, and also enjoys playing chamber music. With Charlotte Bommas, she won the only first prize with the highest score and the VDH special prize and the NRW youth chamber music award at the Bundeswettbewerb "Jugend musiziert" in 2025. In 2025, Antonia also won a first prize at the interpretation competition of the Alumni Association and GFF of the Hochschule für Musik Detmold. A detailed portrait of the young harpist was broadcast on Deutschlandfunk Kultur's podcast "Einstand". Antonia has been a scholarship recipient of the Detmold Summer Academy several times and was awarded the "Junge Kunst" prize by the Verbundvolksbank OWL. She has received important musical impulses from Masumi Nagasawa, Anaëlle Tourret, Zachary Hatcher, Isabelle Perrin, and Maria Graf. Violinist Eckhard Fischer was born in Stuttgart in 1959. He studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart in the class of Ricardo Odnoposoff, and later with Josef Gingold at Indiana University of Bloomington (USA). He has taken masterclasses with the Melos Quartet, the Amadeus Quartet, the Trio di Trieste, György Sebök, and Leon Fleisher. His conducting teacher was Alexander Sumski. Eckhard Fischer is a winner of international competitions. He was a co-founder of the Stuttgart string quartet, of which he was a member from 1980-1984. In 1986, the Trio Opus 8 was formed, with Eckhard Fischer still playing in the same ensemble to this day. In 1996, he took over the artistic direction of the Detmold Chamber Orchestra, which he led until 2010. Eckhard Fischer is a professor of violin at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold. Since 2015, Eckhard Fischer has been the artistic director of the Oberstdorf Music Summer. He plays on a violin by Pierre Dalphin, dating from 1999.