What is your name?
Cvetozar Vutev

Where are you from?
Bulgaria

Where do you live now?
Kamloops, BC

What instruments do you play?
Violin

How long have you played your instruments?
47 years

What made you pick that instrument?
My uncle gave me a violin as a gift when I was 6 years old. It was so challenging at the beginning to make any descent sound on it, so I really wanted to learn how to play the violin. Now I keep trying.

Where did you study?
In Bulgaria: Pleven Music School and Sofia National Music Academy (MMus, Doctor of Musicology and Musical Arts)

Please list any awards, accomplishments, etc.
"Nedialka Simeonova" 1st National Violin Competition, 1982, 2nd prize. Kamloops Mayor's Award for the Arts - Artist of the Year: Performing Arts, 2017

If you could have dinner with any composer (living or dead) who would it be and why?
I would have dinner with Imant Raminsh. He is such a profound person and a composer. His choral and chamber music works are outstanding. He also came to Canada from Europe and he studied music there.

What is your favourite genre of music, other than classical music?
Bluegrass

What is your favourite band?
Not sure

Other than the KSO, who do you perform with?
I do perform regularly with the Symphony of the Kootenays (concertmaster), the Okanagan Symphony (1st violin), Vancouver Island Symphony and Prince George Symphony (occasionally), Kamloops Brandenburg Orchestra, Chamber Musicians of Kamloops, Vivace Chorale Kamloops, and Bluegrass Strio-V.

What are some interesting places you have traveled too?
I have traveled to most of the European countries, as well as Japan and Republic of Korea

What are your hobbies outside of music?
Hiking, yoga, book reading.

What is your favourite flavour of ice cream?
Hazelnut flavour

What is your guilty pleasure?
Watching a movie or a theatrical show

Do you get nervous? And how do you calm your nerves before a performance?
I normally never get nervous before a performance because I love performing. If I get too exited then I just do some yoga breathing exercises.

Please add anything that you'd like to share with our audience
I am glad that we have such a supportive audience here in Kamloops and in the BC Interior. I hope I will have the opportunity to perform music for everyone who loves it for many more years.