Vivi Vassileva

Percussion

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Described as „an artist who thrills her audience, exploring and shifting the limits of the percussive world”, Vivi Vassileva is being celebrated not only for her technical perfection, but her astonishing virtuosity, combining agility and power in her performance in her pursuit to showcase percussion as the instrument of the 21^st century.

In 2023/24 Vivi Vassileva takes the lead in Wiener Konzerthaus’ The Percussive Planet series. This season also sees her debut with renowned orchestras such as Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic, Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie, as well as her return to Gürzenich Orchestra. Chamber Music projects take her to Konzerthaus Berlin, Philharmonie Essen and Wiener Konzerthaus amongst others. Vivi Vassileva will furthermore return to important festivals, amongst them the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival.

Last season’s highlights included her debut with SWR Symphony Orchestra and the receipt of the Leonard Bernstein Award at Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, performing Daníel Bjarnasson’s Inferno with the Festival Orchestra. Taking the next step in her career she will appear as “Junge Wilde” at Konzerthaus Dortmund one last time this season, a commitment that started in 2021.

Vassileva is passionate about commissioning new works to expand the percussion repertoire, including works by Bushra El-Turk, Christian Jost, Avner Dorman and Gregor Mayrhofer. Her concerto repertoire includes works by Kalevi Aho, Oriol Cruixent, Tan Dun, John Corigliano, Avner Dorman, Friedrich Cerha, Daníel Bjarnasson and Keiko Abe. Admired for her innovative programming style, Vassileva offers new ways for audiences to become acquainted with her instruments and her craft as she pioneers for environmental projectswith percussion instruments made from recycled materials. She makes regular performances alongside recital partners including Kian Soltani, Frank Dupree, Pablo Barragán and guitarist Lucas Campara Diniz as well as her own percussion ensemble Extasi Ensemble at venues such as Berliner Philharmonie, Snape Maltings, Salzburg Festival and Konzerthaus Dortmund.

In 2019 Vassileva signed an exclusive recording contract with Outhere Music France for their Alpha Classics label. Her debut album release Singin’ Rhythm features works by Guillo Espel, EricSammut, Oriol Cruixent and Keiko Abe, most of them premiere recordings, alongside some rarely heard or premiere arrangements and compositions by Vassileva herself.

Vassileva began her formal training at the age of ten with Claudio Estay and later entered the National YouthOrchestra of Germany as youngest member. More successes followed including prizes at international competitions and two special prizes as the youngest semi-finalist at the prestigious ARDMusic Competition in 2014. At 16 she was accepted into the Hochschule für Musik und Theater inMunich, where she completed her Bachelor of Music under Raymond Curfs and Peter Sadlo. She received the Kulturkreis Gasteig Musikpreis 2016 for her own composition and arrangement of theBulgarian Folk Song Kalino Mome. In 2017 she was awarded the Bayerische Kunstförderpreis and she recenty graduated fromMozarteum University Salzburg where she studied under Martin Grubinger.