Vasko Vassilev (; born October 14, 1970, in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

) is a Bulgarian violinist and conductor.

Early career

At the age of eight Vasilev gave his first public appearance and released his first record with the

Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra The Sofia Philharmonic (Bulgarian language, Bulgarian: Софийска филхармония) was founded in 1893. The current music director is Nayden Todorov. The Sofia Philharmonic includes the National Philharmonic Orchestra, National Ph ...

. Two years later, at the age of 10, he began his studies on a Bulgarian government grant at the Moscow Central Music School, a junior department of the

Moscow Conservatory The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory () is a higher musical educational institution located in Moscow, Russia. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in musical performance and musical research. Th ...

. In 1987 he was awarded second prize in the

Marguerite Long–Jacques Thibaud Competition The Long–Thibaud–Crespin Competition is an international classical music competition for pianists, violinists and singers that has been held in France since 1943. (A Jacques Thibaud Competition was held the year before in Bordeaux: Jacques ...

, and in 1989 he won second prize in the

Paganini competition The Paganini Competition (aka Premio Paganini or Paganini Concore) is an international violin competition named after the famed virtuoso and founder of contemporary violin technique Niccolò Paganini. Created in 1954 it has been carried out ever s ...

(the first prize was not awarded that year).

Later career

In 1994 Vasilev joined the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

in London as its youngest ever

concertmaster The concertmaster (from the German language, German ''Konzertmeister''), first chair (U.S.) or leader (UK) is the principal first violin player in an orchestra (clarinet or oboe in a concert band). After the Conducting, conductor, the concertma ...

. In 2005 he made his

conducting Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or Choir, choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary d ...

debut at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

in London. Five years later he published an autobiography, ''Vasko @ 40'', and in 2011 he became a judge on the Bulgarian reality television show

X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...

. In 2023 he led the orchestra, under the direction of

Antonio Pappano Sir Antonio Pappano (born 30 December 1959) is an English-Italian conductor and pianist. He is currently music director of the Royal Opera House and chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. Early life Pappano was born in Epping, Esse ...

, at the

coronation of Charles III and Camilla The Coronation of the British monarch, coronation of Charles III and his wife, Queen Camilla, Camilla, as Monarchy of the United Kingdom, king and List of British royal consorts, queen of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth re ...

. Vasilev has worked with artists such as

Plácido Domingo José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French, ...

Sting Stimulator of interferon genes (STING), also known as transmembrane protein 173 (TMEM173) and MPYS/MITA/ERIS is a regulator protein that in humans is encoded by the STING1 gene. STING plays an important role in innate immunity. STING induces typ ...

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

Vanessa-Mae Vanessa-Mae ( zh, s=陈美, p=Chén Měi; born 27 October 1978), also called Vanessa-Mae Vanakorn Nicholson, is a British violinist with album sales reaching several million, having made her the wealthiest entertainer under 30 in the United Ki ...

and

Lili Ivanova Lilyana Ivanova Petrova (, born April 24, 1939 in Kubrat (town), Kubrat), known professionally as Lili Ivanova () is a Bulgarian singer. In tribute to her contribution to the culture of the country, she is often referred to as the "Prima donna, Pr ...

.Vasko Vassilev, London Chamber Orchestra
/ref> He also gives masterclasses to violinists at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

Trinity College of Music Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music, dance, and musical theatre conservatoire based in South East London. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. Trini ...

and at the Conservatory of Music in Spain.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vassilev, Vasko 1970 births Living people Bulgarian violinists Musicians from Sofia Bulgarian expatriates in England X Factor (Bulgarian TV series) 21st-century violinists Moscow Conservatory alumni Concertmasters Players of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House