Viktoria Vassilenko is just 22 but already has enviable professional experience. She is holder of numerous awards from piano competitions in Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, the Czech Republic. One of them is the second prize (with no first prize awarded) at the James Mottram International Piano Competition in Manchester, UK. She has had recitals in Vienna, 2008, New York, 2010 and other world capitals of music. She has been soloist of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Brussels Chamber Orchestra, the Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra, USA, the Symphony Orchestra of the Bulgarian National Radio, Classic FM Symphony Orchestra, the Sofia Philharmonic, the Music Mundi Summer Music Academy in Belgium (in 2009 with conductor Maxim Vengerov)… She is holder of two Crystal Lyre award of the Union of Bulgarian Musicians and Dancers, the first – for best young soloist for the 2007-2008 concert season and the second – for 2012 chamber performer.

From an early age, Viktoria has been tutored by renowned pedagogues, a chance she is now being given again:

“The tutors that have meant the most to me have been my parents Asya and Alexander Vassilenko,” she says. “Both are lecturers as well as performing artists. They are a foremost piano duo. At the National Music School in Sofia, I was in Antonina Boneva’s class and then I graduated with Prof. Stella Dimitrova-Maystorova. I have been living in Madrid since 2011 where I am studying at the Queen Sofía College of Music where I had the good fortune of studying under Dmitri Bashkirov. At the same time I am studying at New Bulgarian University. Queen Sofia is a private academy where some of the most famous names in music lecture – Zakhar Bron, Ana Chumachenko, Natalia Shakhovskaya, Ivan Monighetti. That is an atmosphere that makes me feel wonderful. I am grateful for the opportunities the school gives – to take part in concerts, competitions, they offer scholarships. There are many talented Bulgarians studying there.”

At the end of this academic year Viktoria received one of the prestigious Queen Sofia awards.

“Together with my trio we won the award for most successful chamber orchestra – we received the prize from Queen Sofia herself. I am happy to say this is the second time I have received this prize. Two years ago it was for young pianist with most promise. My fellow musicians from the trio are Laura Szabo, cello and Mohamed Hiber, violin. This success opened many doors for us in Spain. We may be performing in France again – in March we had a concert in Paris. Together with our chamber music tutor Marta Gulyas we are planning other appearances and participations in major competitions.”

Young classical musicians find themselves increasingly involved with organizations from the so-called music business. Advertising and good management – is that the road to success? The answer from Viktoria:

“It is true the business of promoting young musicians is now very important. That could be a good or a bad thing depending on what kind of people are involved. We, musicians of the youngest generation are really lucky – we are open to the world, we have access to any given point on the planet, we travel, make contacts. We meet prominent names in music, we even get to be students of theirs if we are lucky, as is the case with me. The Internet also offers a myriad of opportunities. I try not to miss out on any of them and for the time being, I have been lucky. Of course, luck takes a lot of hard work. Many Bulgarians in Madrid, including myself try to include works by Bulgarian composers in our programmes. This is a practice that should be popularized. We have musical pearls that we should be presented to the broad public.”

The audio file contains the following works:

-  Piano Sonata by Mozart, part 1, Viktoria Vassilenko, piano;

-  El Albaicin from Iberia Suite by Isaac Albéniz, Viktoria Vassilenko, piano;

-  Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 1 by Beethoven, part 3, performed by the Classic FM Symphony Orchestra, Viktoria Vassilenko, piano;

-  Prelude to Five Miniatures for Piano by Dimitar Nenov, Viktoria Vassilenko, piano.

English version: Milena Daynova