Vivi Vassileva

Described as ‘an artist who thrills her audience, exploring and shifting the limits of the percussive world’, Vivi Vassileva leads a new generation of percussionists in their pursuit to showcase percussion as the instrument of the 21^st century. She is celebrated not only for her technical perfection, but her astonishing virtuosity, combining agility and power in her performance.

The 2026/27 season features a series of groundbreaking debuts, the Norwegian premiere of Sauli Zinovjev’s A Savage Beat with Oslo Philharmonic under the baton of Marin Alsop, followed in quick succession by Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich, Philharmonia Orchestra and NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, conducted by Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Manfred Honeck and Alan Gilbert. Vivi Vassileva also makes her US debut with Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and Ruth Reinhardt, as well as with Oklahoma City Philharmonic. She returns to orchestras such as Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra with John Storgårds and continues her concert cycle Percussive Planet at Wiener Konzerthaus with a duo recital alongside Frank Dupree and a concert featuring her Extasi Ensemble. A new collaboration with the Austrian brass ensemble Federspiel brings her to renowned festivals including Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and Rheingau Music Festival.

Driven by her commitment to expanding the percussion repertoire for the 21^st century, Vivi Vassileva actively commissions new works by composers such as Sauli Zinovjev, Gregor Mayrhofer, Avner Dorman, Bushra El-Turk and Christian Jost. Her innovative programming opens up new and accessible ways for audiences to experience percussion and its many possibilities, exploring the instrument’s diverse sounds, forms and materials.

Previous seasons included important performances with Luxembourg Philharmonic, SWR Symphony Orchestra, Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, as well as appearances at Barbican Hall London, Prinzregententheater Munich and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. Vivi Vassileva regularly performs with long-standing recital partners such as pianist Frank Dupree and guitarist Lucas Campara Diniz, as well as with her own percussion ensemble, Extasi Ensemble, in renowned venues including the Berliner Philharmonie, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Philharmonie Essen, Wiener Konzerthaus, Snape Maltings and Tonhalle Zürich, and at festivals such as the Salzburg Festival, Gstaad Menuhin Festival and Solsberg Festival.

Her recent releases include highly acclaimed recordings of Daníel Bjarnason’s Inferno with Iceland Symphony Orchestra and Gregor Mayrhofer’s Recycling Concerto with SWR Symphony Orchestra. The recording of Mayrhofer’s percussion concerto received the OPUS KLASSIK in 2026.

Her numerous awards and distinctions include the Kulturkreis Gasteig Musikpreis in 2016 for her composition and arrangement of the Bulgarian folk song Kalino Mome, the Bayerische Kunstförderpreis in 2017 and the Leonard Bernstein Award by Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in 2023. Vivi Vassileva is a graduate of Mozarteum University Salzburg, where she studied under Martin Grubinger.