Rumen Cvetkov - viola

Since his solo debut at the age of 8, Rumen Cvetkov has performed in nearly 40 countries on 4 continents which won him positive critical claim. Equally popular as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician, he has performed in important venues worldwide such as Berliner Filharmoniker Hall, Carnegie Hall (New York), Wigmore Hall (London), Musikverein and Konzerthaus (Vienna), Walt Disney Hall (Los Angeles), Pallacio de Bellas Artes (Mexico City), Mozarteum (Salzburg), Chicago Symphony Center, and Bulgaria Hall to name a few. His festival appearances include Kuhmo, Ravinia, Lucern, Red Sea Festival (Israel), Athens, St. Moritz, Mimir, Bruman, I Palpiti, Ascoli Piceno (Italy), as well as “Music in the Old City” and ” European Culture Month”. He has been a guest artist for Van Cliburn Institute and a faculty at Texas Chamber Music Round Up in Fort Worth. He is invited very regularly to teach masterclasses in USA, Europe and Asia.

A passionate chamber musician, Rumen Cvetkov has collaborated with some of the greatest musicians ever such as Ida Haendel, Bernard Greenhouse, Mihail Muntian, Sir Harold Martina, Jose Feghali, Christian Tetzlaff, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Michael Flaksman, Jose Gallardo, and members of Borromeo, Kronos, Aviv, Jerusalem and Verdi Quartets. In the fall of 2007 he cooperated with Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project performing the solo part of Brahms Clarinet Quintet arranged for solo viola in a concert organized by Chicago Art Museum. Since 2017, Rumen Cvetkov is the founder and Artistic Director of MurciArt Music Festival (Spain) with Honorary President Maestro Placido Domingo. He is founding member of Orchestra Mediterranean Soloists. Additionally he is the violist of Picasso String Quartet based in Malaga, Spain.

In 2012 Maestro Zubin Mehta invited him to become the solo violist of the Royal Spanish Opera House “Queen Sofia” in Valencia. Regularly invited as a guest solo violist in orchestras like Tonhalle Zurich, Orquesta de Barcelona, Brandemburg Symphony, Mannheim Philharmonic, Bach Collegium, Basque National Orchestra, Dallas Chamber Orchestra, he has performed under great conductors such as Bernard Haitink, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Chailly, Herbert Bloomstedt, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Paavo Jarvi, Myun Wun Chung, Kent Nagano, Vladimir Jurowski, Alan Gilbert, and Robert Trevino to name a few. In 2022 Teodor Currentzis invited him to his newly formed European Project “Utopia” Orchestra with triumphant tours in the major European capitals.
Passionate teacher he is Visiting Professor of viola at Tilburg Conservatory (Fontys), Holland and New Bulgarian University-Sofia, Bulgaria and since 2020 also in “Musical Arts” in Madrid, Spain. His debut solo CD “Brahms Alliance” with pianist Ludmil Angelov was released in 2019 on GEGA New label with sonatas by Brahms, Clara Schumann and Pauline Viardot which led to a very successful USA-Canada-Europe recital tour. New recording in 2022 called “Melodies” will be released on Aria Classics Label.
Rumen Cvetkov´s teachers include Georgy Naidenov (pupil of Feodor Druzhinin), and in the USA, he studied with Misha Galaganov, Roger Chase and Shmuel Ashkenasi. In Netherlands, he has worked with the late Vladimir Mendelssohn.

He performs on rare violas made by Simon Schodler 1785, named “The Time”, Italian Viola by Giusseppe Ghiacchetti di Roma, and most recently viola by "Russian Stradivari" Timofey Podgorny named “The Poet”