Caroline Fischer plays in Penang
Thursday, 16 October, 06.00 PM

Before her concert in Penang, I hardly knew Caroline Fischer. After witnessing her performance at her concert, I will never forget her. She is a really talented pianist who displayed her mastery of the grand piano to the entire audience gathered at the Methodist Girls’ School Hall that October evening, and for a time the romantic spirit of a bygone epoch in Europe wandered through that humble place in a relatively unknown tropical island in Southeast Asia and held our hearts in thrall.

Caroline played a selection of compositions by Franz Liszt, Claude Debussy and Robert Schumann on that evening. My personal favourites were “La Campanella” and “Am stillen Herd” from “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg”. It was most gratifying for us who were involved in the organization of the concert that this artist was able to work her magic on a grand piano which until its tuning a few days before the concert had a few keys that weren’t even giving a sound anymore.

Caroline Fischer is a young lady who is considered to be one of the rising stars in German classical music. She was born in Berlin, and started receiving piano lessons from her mother at the age of three. At the age of nine she was enrolled at the Julius Stern Institute for very gifted students at the University of Arts Berlin. At the early age of 16, she began her studies at the Academy of Music “Hanns Eisler” Berlin, Germany. Caroline studied also at the University of Music and Performing Arts Mannheim, Germany, the Geneva University of Music Switzerland and the Norwegian Academy of Music Oslo.

She has won 35 prizes and awards, including several first prizes, gold medals and public prizes in national and international competitions on many occasions and she was awarded with the Classic Superstar Award after a performance in the Konzerthaus Berlin.

Penang thanks you, Caro, for bringing a breath of high European culture to us, and hopes you will find time to visit us again.

Ooi Hong Leong