Photo: Marco Borggreve for Borletti-Buitoni TrustZlatomir Fung
USA; of Bulgarian and Chinese heritage
He grew up in a family of mathematicians, of Bulgarian and Chinese heritage, and started the cello at three.
- Tchaikovsky Competition, first prize, 2019
- First American winner in four decades
- Young Concert Artists, 2017
- Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship, 2022
- Juilliard faculty since 2024
“A triumph that deserves to be a repertoire standard.”
Upcoming events
He studied at Juilliard with Richard Aaron and Timothy Eddy. In 2019 he won the Tchaikovsky Competition: the first American in four decades, and the youngest winner ever, to take the cello first prize. He has played with the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra and the BBC Philharmonic, and in recital at Carnegie's Zankel Hall.
He composes too; The Arts Desk called his Fantasy on Jenůfa a triumph. In 2024 he joined the Juilliard faculty, one of its youngest members. He plays a Montagnana of about 1735 and the 1696 'Lord Aylesford' Stradivarius.
In April 2027 he makes his Oregon Symphony debut in Strauss's Don Quixote.
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