Cvetozar Vutev
After moving to Canada from Europe in 2005, Cvetozar Vutev became the concertmaster with the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra and began teaching violin, viola, chamber music, and string orchestra with the Kamloops Symphony Music School. Two years later, he became the Music Director of the Vivace Chorale Kamloops, and in 2012 he became the founding Music Director of the Kamloops Brandenburg Orchestra. Since 2008, Cvetozar has been a first violin core player with the Okanagan Symphony, and in 2016 he also became the concertmaster of the Symphony of the Kootenays. Cvetozar is one of the founding members of the Chamber Musicians of Kamloops. For three years, from 2012 until 2015 he served as a concertmaster with the Opera Kelowna. Cvetozar has taught choir at the Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops since 2013. In 2017, he received the Artist of the Year: Performing Arts award at the Mayor’s Gala for the Arts in Kamloops.
Cvetozar was born in Bulgaria. He earned his master's degree in violin performance under Boyan Lechev at the Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1990. In 2016 he achieved a doctorate in musicology and musical arts at the same institution. At the Panayot Pipkov State School of Music in his home city Pleven, Cvetozar completed a 3-year choral conducting course under Ivet Glojenska. He also studied choral conducting under Lilia Gyuleva in Sofia, and the UBC Vancouver professor Graeme Langager. Between 1990 and 2005 Cvetozar was a violin teacher with the Lyubomir Pipkov National School of Music in Sofia. At the same period, he was a first violin player with the Rousse Symphony Orchestra, Sofia Symphony Orchestra, and the National Opera and Ballet Orchestra, and Operettenbuene, based in Vienna, Austria. Cvetozar was the concertmaster of both Century 21 Symphony Orchestra in Sofia, Bulgaria (1997 – 2004), and Opera Passion – based in Milano, Italy (2004 – 2005). As a violin orchestra musician Cvetozar attended orchestra conducting workshops and master classes under Ferdinand Leitner, Genadi Rojdestvenski, and Valeri Gergiev in Sienna, Italy, as well Salvador Mas Conde in Vienna. He also attended violin master classes taught by famous violin teachers, such as Yfrah Neaman (UK) and Wolfgang Marschner (Germany). In 2000 Cvetozar earned a master’s degree in law at the Kliment Ochridski University of Sofia.
Cvetozar has performed and taught violin, viola, chamber music, orchestra and opera music for over 30 years. He has played in numerous solo violin, chamber music, symphony, and opera performances in 12 European countries, as well as the Republic of Korea, Japan, and Canada.