Vesselin Gellev

Vesselin Gellev is a Bulgarian-British violinist whose career spans orchestral leadership and chamber music. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees at the Juilliard School, studying with Robert Mann. Before joining the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2007, he was concertmaster of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and the Spoleto Festival Orchestra. As a member of the Antares Quartet, he won first prize at the Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York. He has also toured and recorded as concertmaster of Kristjan Järvi's Absolute Ensemble. His teaching has included appointments at Cornell University and the Eleazar de Carvalho Music Festival in Brazil. Among the violins of the Youth Orchestra of Plovdiv in 1991 was Vesselin Gelev, who played through the ensemble's concerts that season. Gelev was born in Asenovgrad, near Plovdiv, and later built a career in New York as a soloist and chamber musician before joining the London Philharmonic Orchestra, where he plays as a concertmaster. He performs regularly in a duo with his sister, the pianist Srebra Geleva, in programmes of Beethoven, Bartók, Richard Strauss, Mozart and Schumann, including appearances at the Plovdiv international chamber music festival and in Asenovgrad.