Bulgarian born violist Rumen Cvetkov started his studies at age of four and made his concerto debut four years later as a soloist of Thrakia Orchestra and with his father as a conductor for a special radio and TV broadcast. In 1997 Mr. Cvetkov graduated from “Dobrin Petkov” Special Music School. The same year he was accepted at the Plovdiv Academy for Music and Dance where he was one of the few students of the Late Professor Georgy Naidenoff (pupil of renowned Feodor Druzhinin). During his studies he led the viola section of symphony and chamber orchestras of the Academy and was invited to be the principal of the Plovdiv Chamber Orchestra and Colegium Musicum. His orchestra experience also includes: Plovdiv Philharmonic, Monterrey Philharmonic, Plano Symphony, Abilene Philharmonic, and Irving Symphony. Mr.Cvetkov took master classes in viola and chamber music with Mincho Minchev (Bulgaria), Ognian Stanchev (Bulgaria), Yuri Bashmet (Russia), Erick Kruger (Germany), Matthew Dane (USA) among others.
As a soloist and as a member of many chamber ensembles he has appeared in: “Bulgaria” Concert Hall, “Palacio de Bellas Artes” (Mexico City), St.Micheli Cathedral (Brussels), Desingel Concert Hall (Antwerp), and performed with artists such as Mikhail Muntian, Mincho Minchev, Stoika Milanova, Petko Radev and many others. Mr.Cvetkov participated in Mimir Chamber Music Festival (USA) as well as Athens Music Festival (Greece) and played recitals for “Music in the Old City” Festival and “European Culture Month” in Bulgaria.
In March 2004 Mr. Cvetkov was invited to join “I Palpiti” Chamber Orchestra as their principal on the annual Young Artists Chamber Music Festival. During the festival, which will be held in Beverly Hills (Los Angeles), he will perform solo and chamber music with the members of the orchestra. Director of the festival is the famous violinist Eduard Schmieder and Artistic Advisors are such musicians as Gidon Kremer, Igor Oistrakh, Ruggiero Ricci, Vadim Repin, Vladimir Ashkenazy to name just a few.
Mr.Cvetkov gave the premieres of several pieces such as: “Capriccio” for viola solo dedicated to him by the Bulgarian composer Dimiter Shatrowski as well as the world premiere of Kostas Nikitas’s Sonata for violin and cello. 2004 performances will also include another two premieres of Sonata for viola and piano by Graham Justice and Trio for two violas and piano by Yuri Blinov. Since year 2002 Mr. Cvetkov has moved to USA where he is studying with Misha Galaganov (Israel).