Vivi Vassileva

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, leading a new generation of percussionists in their pursuit to showcase percussion as the instrument of the 21^st century.

The 2025/26 season holds numerous highlights for Vivi Vassileva, including concerts with Lathi Sinfonia, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Chamber Orchestra Zürich, Klangforum Wien, Zagreb Philharmonic, Britten Sinfonia and l’Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana. Once again, Vivi takes the lead in Wiener Konzerthaus’s The Percussive Planet series – a commitment that started in 2023/24. Chamber Music projects take her to Prinzregententheater Münich and Wiener Konzerthaus amongst others. Vivi Vassileva will furthermore return to important festivals such as Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival.

Recent highlights featured the premiere of the percussion concerto A Savage Beat by Sauli Zinovjev with Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, tour with Luxembourg Philharmonic and recordings of two highly renowned percussion concertos, Daníel Bjarnason’s Inferno with Iceland Philharmonic Orchestra and Gregor A. Mayrhofer’s Recycling Concerto with SWR Symphony Orchestra. Vassileva is passionate about commissioning new works to expand the percussion repertoire, including works by Bushra El-Turk, Christian Jost, Avner Dorman, Gregor Mayrhofer and Sauli Zinovjev. Her concerto repertoire includes works by Kalevi Aho, Oriol Cruixent, Tan Dun, John Corigliano, Avner Dorman, Friedrich Cerha, Daníel Bjarnason and Keiko Abe. Admired for her innovative programming style, Vassileva offers new, accessible ways for audiences to become acquainted with her instruments and her craft, as she introduces projects with percussion instruments made from recycled materials. She makes regular performances alongside recital partners including Frank Dupree and guitarist Lucas Campara Diniz as well as her own percussion ensemble, Extasi Ensemble, at venues such as Berliner Philharmonie, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Philharmonie Essen, Wiener Konzerthaus, Snape Maltings and Tonhalle Zürich, alongside festivals such as Salzburg Festival, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Solsberg Festival and Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival.

In 2019 Vassileva signed an exclusive recording contract with Outhere Music France for their Alpha Classics label. Her debut album release Singin’ Rhythm features work by Guillo Espel, Eric Sammut, 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 Youth Orchestra of Germany as youngest member. More success was immediate with prizes at international competitions and two special prizes as the youngest semi-finalist at the prestigious ARD Music Competition in 2014. She received the Kulturkreis Gasteig Musikpreis 2016 for her own composition and arrangement of the Bulgarian Folk Song Kalino Mome. In 2017 she was awarded the Bayerische Kunstförderpreis and in 2023 the Leonard-Bernstein Award. Vivi Vassileva is a graduate of Mozarteum University Salzburg where she studied under Martin Grubinger.