Vivi Vassileva
Born in Germany into a family of Bulgarian musicians, Vivi Vassileva began her musical studies on the violin with her father. However, upon hearing a group of folk artists on Karadere beach on the Black Sea coast, she was immediately inspired to take up percussion. It was these colourful and exotic Balkan rhythms that shaped her into the multifaceted musician she has become and which continue to influence her classically-trained style.
Vivi's Adams Gear
Awards
- Bavarian Arts Promotion Prize in the category of Music (2017)
- 1st Prize – Gasteig Cultural Circle Music Award (2016)
- 2nd Prize – Special Prize at the 63rd ARD Music Competition in Munich (2014)
- U21 Special Prize by BR-Klassik
- Special Prize of the Mozart Society Munich
- 1st Prize – Music Promotion Competition of the Concert Association Ingolstadt (2013)
- 1st Prize and ADAMS Special Prize – International Marimba Competition “Marimba Festiva” in Nuremberg
- Bronze Medal – International Marimba Competition “Marimba Mania” in Paris (2010)
“
Vivi Vassileva's playing rips the audience off their chairs
— Westdeutsche Zeitung
Admired for her innovative programming style, Vassileva offers new ways for audiences to become acquainted with her instruments and her craft — whether through story-telling with renowned Austrian author Michael Köhlmeier sharing tales of popular sports legends, or pioneering environmental projects with percussion instruments made from recycled materials. She regularly performs with recital partners including Kian Soltani, Frank Dupree, Pablo Barragán and guitarist Lucas Campara Diniz, as well as with her self-established percussion ensemble „Extasi Ensemble“. Performances have taken place at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Snape Maltings, March Music Days in Ruse, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and the Salzburg Festival.
Vassileva began her formal training at age ten with Claudio Estay, and after winning First Prize at the national Jugend Musiziert competition in Germany, she entered the National Youth Orchestra of Germany as its youngest member. Further successes followed, including prizes at international marimba competitions in Paris (2009) and Nuremberg (2010), the Ingolstadt Music Cultivation Prize (2013), 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. She is currently studying part-time at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg under Martin Grubinger. 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.
In 2019 Vassileva signed an exclusive record deal 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 rarely heard or premiere arrangements and compositions by Vassileva herself.
Selected for the Vienna Konzerthaus’ Great Talent scheme from 2019/20 to 2021/22 and as a Junge Wilde at the Dortmund Konzerthaus from 2021/22 to 2023/24, Vivi Vassileva is poised on the threshold of a major performing career and promises to be an artist who will take audiences with her as she explores and pushes the boundaries of the percussion world. Besides her brilliant technique, athleticism and astonishing virtuosity, she brings exceptional musicality and poetic expression to her performances.