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 21st century.
In 2023/24 Vivi Vassileva takes the lead in Wiener Konzerthaus’s »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, and Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie. Chamber Music projects take her to Konzerthaus Berlin, Philharmonie Essen and Wiener Konzerthaus amongst others.
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. 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 projects with percussion instruments made from recycled materials.
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, 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 successes followed including prizes at international competitions and two special prizes as the youngest semi-finalist at the prestigious ARD Music Competition in 2014. At 16 she was accepted into the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich, where she completed her Bachelor of Music under Raymond Curfs and Peter Sadlo. In 2017 she was awarded the Bayerische Kunstförderpreis and she recenty graduated from Mozarteum University Salzburg where she studied under Martin Grubinger.