Shape music history - Vivi Vassileva

Dear Ms Vassileva, looking at your concert schedule, I imagine you lead a life on the road. Finland, Zurich, Ankara, the Prinzregententheater with Frank Dupree in Munich, the Konzerthaus in Vienna with Thomas Gansch, performances in German cities, Olsberg in Switzerland, Varna in Bulgaria, and Oslo in the autumn … How does that feel for you, and where do you consider your home to be?

My home is in Ebensee, but of course I’m on the road a great deal – in the last few months I’ve only been at home for about three days. Before that I was in London for the premiere of the ‘Recycling Concerto’, which is very close to my heart, and then it was straight on to the Bulgaria tour. This month is a bit more relaxed (laughs).

But you’re teaching during the summer term as part of the “FAiR – Female Artist in Residence” project at the Mozarteum University, aren’t you?

Yes, I really enjoy teaching. It’s incredibly enriching to work with the young students and to see how differently people approach things, each with their own strengths. And the best part, of course, is seeing the development throughout the process. How this music and this incredible power emerge from what are essentially schoolboy notes. That’s very fulfilling for both students and teachers.

Do you perform in different ensembles?

Exactly, mainly as a soloist with an orchestra, but also in two exciting duos. One with my fiancé Lucas Campara Diniz on guitar and one with the fantastic pianist Frank Dupree – we’re playing at the Prinzregententheater in Munich in May. I also have my own percussion ensemble: ‘Extasi’, featuring piano and five percussionists. My projects are varied. At the moment we’re planning a concert programme and a CD production for the coming seasons with the magnificent wind ensemble Federspiel.

Do you also play in other genres, such as jazz or pop?

I like to dabble in jazz and improvisational music. That’s also often required in the contemporary repertoire. Percussion features in all genres.

But you don’t play strictly from the score, do you?

That’s 85 per cent of it. For a well-trained drummer, however, it is just as important to be familiar with a wide variety of grooves and musical styles – such as samba or salsa grooves, Balkan rhythms and their specific phrasing. Basically, it’s like learning different languages: ideally, you speak them without an accent. This is so important because contemporary music is very often inspired by folklore – from Venezuelan dances as well as Balkan folk songs. It may also be the case that a drum concert is based on a Chinese melody. This means that you need to have a very broad musical background and, at the same time, a genuine interest in other cultures in order to get to know their music.

You play the marimba and vibraphone, bells, drums and all sorts of kitchen utensils and recycled materials such as bottles, tins… How many instruments do you have and how do you organise them for a concert?

Logistics is definitely a huge part of my work. When we come back from a concert, we unload the Sprinter and immediately load it up again for the next one. Every concert requires different instruments. For the ‘Recycling Concerto’, I use lots of plastic bottles, flower pots and glass bottles. But when I play Friedrich Cerha, I need Thai gongs, the xylophone and wood blocks. When I play “Frozen in Time” by Avner Dorman, I need cowbells, tom-toms and crotales. It really is different for every percussion concert – almost like a move. I plan, play and then pack everything away again. A concert day certainly lasts longer for percussionists than for other musicians. We’re usually the first to arrive and the last to leave.

That sounds like a lot of work!

Yes, but in return we have the biggest ‘PlayStation’ (laughs).

Percussion refers to relatively recent ‘instruments’, doesn’t it? In the 18th century, Mozart still called it ‘Turkish music’ (instead of percussion). How do you build your repertoire?

It is thanks to W. A. Mozart that cymbals are used in the orchestra – a practice that began with *The Abduction from the Seraglio*. At the time, this was considered very exotic. It is said that during the premiere, some members of the audience felt uneasy because they associated the cymbals with the historical account of the Ottoman occupation. Fortunately, things are different today. In fact, percussion is actually the oldest instrument. Hunter-gatherers and indigenous peoples certainly played hand drums covered with animal skins, or used tree trunks as the first drums, to celebrate rituals. In classical music, specifically in orchestral music, we are the youngest instrument. In particular, the combination of various percussion instruments, all hailing from different corners of the world, has only really existed since the 1980s and 90s. The first percussion concertos were written in the 20th century. 85 per cent of my repertoire is from the 21st century – works no older than 20 years. And every year I perform new works written especially for me. That means we’re also helping to write a little bit of music history, which of course feels very special.

How can one imagine the sound produced with recycled materials?

The “Recycling Concerto” was certainly a special challenge. Together with the composer Gregor A. Mayrhofer, we wanted to tackle the issue of waste and show that if you can make music out of rubbish, we humans are capable of achieving even greater things. The challenge was to construct the instruments in such a way that virtuoso passages could also be played on them, because the intervals are incredibly wide. Playing a fifth on two glass bottles involves much wider intervals than when I’m working on a glockenspiel, where everything is very close together. It was the same with the plastic bottle marimba that we developed ourselves, where the bass bottles are my lowest note and the cello C – a ten-litre bottle – means that to play an octave, I really have to stretch both arms out fully. No other instrument requires this kind of acrobatics for these notes.

How long do you spend working on a programme like this?

We’re talking about months here. We’ve also made a recording of the “Recycling Concerto” with the SWR Symphony Orchestra – and since March, the label “decurio” has been releasing a record made from marine plastic, the world’s first symphony orchestra recording released on vinyl made from recycled waste. In keeping with the central idea of the “Recycling Concerto”, the production of the records also makes sustainability a core principle: they are not only made from recycled ocean plastic, but are also produced exclusively “on demand”. Unlike industrially manufactured records, they are not pressed, but cut directly into the material. Produced on machines at the Viennese workshop “Phonocut”, each record is a unique piece – analogue, sustainable and audiophile. A recycling concert on homemade instruments made from rubbish, music that is recycled, and the medium on which the music is played is made from recycled material. This is how a “well-rounded project” came about.

How would you describe your unique selling point?

There are several things that have shaped me, starting in my childhood. I come from a classically conservative violin-and-piano family, with Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Brahms – no percussion. In my family, my percussion ambitions were initially met with scepticism. My mother was an accompanist at the opera, my brother also plays at the opera, which means I was shaped by a lyrical approach where the phrase must be drawn out, and that is not something you would teach someone in their first drum lesson. But because of my family background, that was always a priority for me; I look for it in my interpretations and demand it of my students too: phrases that tell a story and move the listener. Of course, they should also be loud, rhythmic and energetic – everything you’d expect from percussion; but also quiet and harmonious. We can sing cantilenas too. I come from this background and only much later, with Martin Grubinger, did I get to know the immediate craft of drumming. Another aspect of my upbringing is not just orchestral music – I always attended the symphony concerts and opera performances by my father’s orchestra, the Hof Symphony Orchestra, but the summer experiences in Bulgaria with my parents were also important musical experiences for me. We used to go regularly to a particular beach where there were people playing hand drums, but also making music on homemade setups made from rubbish. That really fascinated me, and it’s something you don’t learn in the same way when studying classical percussion. It’s something primal that I can incorporate into classical music. This ritualistic music that touches, moves and brings people together. The incredible magic that this music possesses, which we all feel but which no one can really put into words. That really fascinates me.

Your performance seems very athletic. Viewed from the outside, you exist in the space between art and high-performance sport – where do you see yourself? And how athletic does a percussionist need to be?

At the Olympic Games, I’m most passionate about figure skating. It combines sport, art and elegance like no other sport. And that moves me emotionally every time and inspires me athletically. I see a bit of that in the drums: a beautiful art form; we can tell so many stories, portray so many characters, create so many sounds. A drum concert is an incredible sonic journey through emotions, ecstasy and feelings, but it’s also athletic. As a drum soloist in particular, incredible fitness is required, and it doesn’t hurt to train both strength and endurance.

And what about the balance between music and performance?

When it comes to drumming, this is just as important as practising, technique, sound, rhythm and dynamics. Drumming really has to be experienced live. Seeing how that sound is created, watching someone play a taiko – a drum two metres in diameter, carved from a single tree that took 150 years to grow – is a breathtaking experience.

What advice would you give to your younger self, still a student?

When you’re at university, everything suddenly becomes so serious and the pressure builds, but as a musician you must never lose that initial passion, love and curiosity. No matter how great the pressure becomes. The moment music becomes routine and the focus is solely on perfection, it loses its magic and its meaning. Showing someone how perfectly we can play is not the reason why we make music. Even when you’re practising difficult pieces and repeating them for weeks on end – we’ve all been there – you have to let go of that ‘obsessive’ mindset. Ultimately, we play for the audience, and we want to convey the love and joy of music. Nobody goes to a concert to experience dogged perfection, and I find that absolutely, absolutely vital, just as much as a certain serenity, coupled with incredible discipline. I, too, was often insecure, despite great discipline, but nowadays there are many mental coaches who provide good guidance, and thankfully we have moved away from that dictatorial style of the old school of professors. Today it is much more a dialogue on equal terms, a respectful collaboration; that is how music makes the world a much better place. And we must accept that in classical music too, where it is very often about high, incredible perfection. Ultimately, it is also about love and passion here. To quote Beethoven: ‘Everyone forgives a wrong note, but a note without passion will not be forgiven.’

Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?

Yes, the ‘Zam Gala’ at the Vienna Konzerthaus featuring Thomas Gansch, Federspiel, Alpen & Glühen and many more – a special outreach project in which we worked independently in various regional locations across Austria with the local brass bands, some of whom were amateur musicians. The idea behind it was to bring music back to its roots. Music has always had a unifying quality; it manages to bring together even large groups of people from the most diverse backgrounds. It was important to us to work with young and old, with professional and amateur musicians from all walks of life. And this is now culminating in a very special evening at the Vienna Konzerthaus on 29 May 2026.

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Vivi Vassileva grew up as the youngest child in a Bulgarian family of musicians – both her parents were musicians with the Hof Symphony Orchestra. Her brother, Vasko Vasilev, is a violinist and concertmaster at the Royal Opera House in London. The violin was also Vivi’s first instrument, before she switched to percussion. She received support from the Robert Bosch Foundation (“Talent in Bavaria”) and the German Music Council, and was awarded various scholarships. She began her training at the age of ten with Claudio Estay, and initially studied at the Munich University of Music and Performing Arts under Peter Sadlo until his death in 2016, and subsequently under Raymond Curfs. Already established in her career, she also completed a course of study with Martin Grubinger at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. She is a prize-winner in numerous competitions.

Concert highlights of the 2025/26 season include performances with Lahti Sinfonia, the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Klangforum Wien, the Zagreb Philharmonic, the Britten Sinfonia and l’Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana. She will also once again head the “Percussive Planet” series at the Vienna Konzerthaus, which she took over in the 2023/24 season. Her chamber music projects will take her to venues including the Prinzregententheater in Munich and the Vienna Konzerthaus. Vivi Vassileva will also return to prestigious festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. Since 2019, she has been signed to “Outhere Music France” for their label “Alpha Classics”.