Zlatomir Fung is a 23-year-old cellist who has already made a name for himself in the classical music world. He is of Bulgarian Chinese heritage and began playing the cello at the age of three. He studied at the Juilliard School in New York with Richard Aaron and Timothy Eddy. Zlatomir has won many competitions and was the first American in four decades to win First Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition, Cello Division. He was also the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2020 and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship in 2022. In addition to music, Zlatomir enjoys cinema, reading, and blitz chess.
Zlatomir was originally scheduled to perform for the VRS in 2020, but the pandemic thwarted our plans. We are delighted to have been able to reschedule him, this time with Israeli pianist Benjamin Hochman, who first performed on our series in 2003. Benjamin is an extremely versatile artist who performs as an orchestral soloist, recitalist, chamber musician and conductor. He was born in Jerusalem in 1980 and is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and of The Juiliard School’s conducting program. We are delighted to welcome Zlatomir and Benjamin to the VRS stage!