Zlatomir Fung - About

Becoming a part of the BBT family has been a tremendous honour and joy. I feel deeply grateful for the team’s work in helping me realize the artistic projects that I find meaningful, and for providing deep expertise and advice regarding career-building in an ever-changing world.

Of Bulgarian and Chinese heritage, American cellist Zlatomir Fung burst onto the scene following his First Prize at the 2019 International Tchaikovsky Competition where he was the youngest ever winner in his class. He has since forged a highly successful career, gathering critical acclaim and standing ovations at major venues and orchestras around the globe. Whether in solo repertoire – from Bach onwards – or contemporary concertos, Zlatomir is distinguished by impeccable technique and elegantly impassioned performances, and makes lasting musical connections wherever he goes.

With his BBT Fellowship, new photos were the first order of the day, while he honed an idea for his debut recording which had been born out of the Covid lockdowns. With a fascination for the lost art of 19th-century operatic transcriptions for cello, Zlatomir conceived of 21st-century equivalents, composing one himself on Janáček’s Jenůfa, and commissioning Marshall Estrin to create a new take on Bizet in his Fantasia Carmén. With pianist Richard Fu, Zlatomir took these two, plus rarities based on operas by Donizetti, Rossini, Wagner and Tchaikovsky, into the recording studio for Signum Classics. The resultant disc, Fantasies, was released in 2025 and received universal acclaim, with particular nods to Zlatomir as both composer and performer.

Zlatomir was supported with a BBT Fellowship between 2022 and 2025.

For a current biography please visit zlatomirfung.com or kirshbaumassociates.com

Read a blog by Zlatomir, On Operatic Fantasies Old and New, here

Press Release: Fantasies for Cello and Piano

Photographs by Marco Borggreve and I-Jung Huang