Christopher Fischer is the Principal Violist of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, having previously served as Assistant Principal from 2015–2017. In the Chautauqua off-season, Mr. Fischer is a member of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Previous engagements have included Assistant Principal Viola of the North Carolina Symphony, Fellow at the New World Symphony, and Principal Viola of the Midland-Odessa Symphony. Born in Columbia, Missouri, Mr. Fischer holds degrees from Indiana University and University of Missouri. His principal teachers have included Atar Arad, Leslie Perna, and Yuval Gotlibovitch.

As a chamber musician, he has appeared frequently on the Cincinnati Symphony’s Chamber Players series, and has performed with the Borromeo Quartet, the Mallarme Chamber Players, and was a member of the Permian Basin String Quartet. He has been featured as a soloist with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra and the Brussels Chamber Orchestra. Playing with the International Sejong Soloists, a chamber orchestra based in New York City, he performed nationally televised concerts at the Great Mountains Music Festival in South Korea. As a member of the North Carolina Symphony’s Ensembles in the Schools String Quartet, he performed outreach concerts for students across North Carolina. Mr. Fischer teaches at the Cincinnati School for the Creative and Performing Arts, and has previously taught at Miami University, North Carolina State University, and the University of Texas at the Permian Basin.