Cellist Zlatomir Fung burst onto the scene as the first American in four decades (and youngest musician ever) to win First Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition Cello Division. He has since garnered accolades, critical acclaim and standing ovations at performances around the world, becoming recognized as one of the preeminent cellists of our time. Astounding audiences with his boundless virtuosity and exquisite sensitivity, the 27-year-old has already proven himself a star among the next generation of world-class musicians.
Highlights of the 2026–2027 season include his Hollywood Bowl debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, opening the Utah Symphony’s season with Elgar’s Cello Concerto under Delyana Lazarova, a return to the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Christian Macelaru performing Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1, and the world premiere of a new work by Lawrence Osborn with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Additional orchestral engagements include a return to the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra under Yaniv Dinur and debuts with the Oregon Symphony under Mario Venzago and the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, and performances with the Asheville Symphony and Cape Symphony. He undertakes a residency at the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center featuring performances of Elgar’s Cello Concerto and solo Bach suites, tours Japan with the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra and Osaka Symphony Orchestra, and Music@Menlo. Recital appearances include performances for String Theory at the Hunter in Chattanooga and his recital debut at San Francisco Symphony’s Davies Hall with pianist Chaeyoung Park, where he presents a program ranging from Chopin and Nadia Boulanger to his own composition for solo cello.
Zlatomir Fung is also increasingly active as a composer. During the 2026–2027 season, violinist Julian Rhee will premiere a new solo violin work by Fung at Merkin Hall in New York, while Fung will premiere his own new works for solo cello in recital and for cello and string orchestra with the New York Classical Players. In April 2026, he performed his Seven Intervallic Etudes for Solo Cello at the UWyoming Cello Festival. He was also commissioned by the Cello Teaching Repertoire Consortium to compose A Sailor's Day Off, a pedagogical suite for cello and piano, which he will perform at Wigmore Hall in 2027. His composition Fantasy on Jenůfa, featured on his debut album Fantasies, was hailed by The Arts Desk as "a triumph" that "deserves to be a repertoire standard.”
Last season’s highlights include a recital at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, appearances at Wigmore Hall, Aspen Music Festival, Ravinia Festival, and La Jolla Music Society, and performances with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, Sacramento Philharmonic, Reno Philharmonic, Albany Symphony, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Belgrade Philharmonic, Guiyang Symphony Orchestra, and at Korea’s Pohang International Music Festival. Other notable recent appearances include performances with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lille, and BBC Philharmonic, as well as the Baltimore, Dallas, Detroit, Seattle, Milwaukee, Utah, Rochester, and Kansas City Symphonies. He has performed at major festivals including Ravinia, Blossom, Aspen, Bravo! Vail, and Grant Park in the United States, and Verbier, Dresden, Leoš Janáček International, Tsinandali, and the Cello Biënnale Amsterdam in Europe.
In addition to demonstrating a mastery of the canon with his impeccable technique, Fung brings exceptional insight to contemporary repertoire, championing composers such as Unsuk Chin, Katherine Balch, and Anna Clyne. In 2023, with the Dallas Symphony under the baton of Gemma New, Fung gave the world premiere of Katherine Balch’s whisper concerto to great acclaim as the dedicatee of the work; he gave its UK premiere in February 2024 with the BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Joshua Weilerstein.
Fung has received many distinguished prizes and awards, including the 2017 Young Concert Artists International Auditions and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship in 2022. As a participant in WQXR’s Artist Propulsion Lab, he wrote The Elves and the Cello Maker, a radio play in which he also performed. Fung has been featured on NPR’s Performance Today and appeared six times on NPR’s From the Top. Fung joined the faculty of his alma mater, The Juilliard School, in 2024 as one of the youngest members of the faculty.
Fung performs on a circa 1735 cello by Domenico Montagnana, on loan from a generous benefactor, and the 1696 “Lord Aylesford” Strad, on loan from the Sasakawa Music Foundation (formerly the Nippon Music Foundation).
Of Bulgarian and Chinese heritage, Zlatomir Fung was born into a family of mathematicians and began playing cello at age three. Fung studied at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Richard Aaron and Timothy Eddy, where he was a recipient of the Kovner Fellowship. Outside of music, his interests include chess, cinema, and creative writing. Fung also shares touring updates and instructional videos for cellists with an online community of more than 26,000 followers on Instagram at @zfungcello.
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