Vivi Vassileva began her musical training on the violin, but when she heard a group of folk musicians on the beach of Karadere on the Black Sea coast, she was immediately inspired by percussion. It was these colourful and exotic Balkan rhythms that made her the versatile musician she is today and continue to influence her classically trained style.
Nominated for the Wiener Konzerthaus' "Great Talent" programme in 2019 and as a "Junge Wilde" at the Konzerthaus Dortmund for three seasons from 2021/22, Vivi Vassileva has laid the foundations for a great career as an artist who takes audiences with her as she explores and pushes the boundaries of percussion. In addition to her brilliant technique, athleticism and amazing virtuosity, she brings an extraordinary musicality and poetic expression to her performances.
Vassileva is passionate about commissioning new works to expand the percussion repertoire, including works by Bushra El-Turk, Claas Krause and Gregor Mayrhofer. Her concert repertoire includes works by Kalevi Aho, Oriol Cruixent, Tan Dun, Avner Dorman, Friedrich Cerha and Keiko Abe. Vassileva is admired for her innovative programming style, offering audiences new ways to learn about percussion, whether in the form of storytelling with renowned Austrian author Michael Köhlmeier or environmental projects with percussion instruments made from recycled materials. She performs regularly with partners such as Kian Soltani, Frank Dupree, Pablo Barragán and guitarist Lucas Campara Diniz, as well as with her own percussion ensemble Extasi Ensemble in venues such as the Berlin Philharmonie, Snape Maltings and the Salzburg Festival.
Since 2019, she has been signed to Outhere Music France for their label Alpha Classics. Her debut album Singin' Rhythm features works by Guillo Espel, Eric Sammut, Oriol Cruixent and Keiko Abe, most of them first recordings, but also some rarely heard or first performed arrangements and compositions by Vassileva herself.
Vassileva began her training at the age of ten with Claudio Estay and was later accepted as the youngest member of the Federal Youth Orchestra of Germany. Further successes followed, including prizes at international competitions and special prizes at the prestigious ARD Music Competition in 2014. At the age of 16, she was accepted at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich, where she completed her Bachelor of Music degree with Raymond Curfs and Peter Sadlo. She is currently studying part-time at the University Mozarteum Salzburg with Martin Grubinger. She received the 2016 Kulturkreis Gasteig Music Prize for her own composition and arrangement of the Bulgarian folk song "Kalino Mome". In 2017, she was awarded the Bavarian Arts Promotion Prize.