Astounding audiences with his boundless virtuosity and exquisite sensitivity, Zlatomir Fung is poised to become one of the preeminent cellists of our time.
The 2025/26 season sees Fung return to Carnegie Hall, and to the Aspen, Ravinia and La Jolla Music Society Festivals. Concerto highlights include his debut with Chicago Symphony at Ravinia Festival and his debut with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. On the recital stage, he returns to London’s Wigmore Hall and to Taiwan, appearing in recital at National Concert Hall, Taipei and National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts.
Recent seasons have seen Fung’s debut at the Royal Festival Hall debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and serve as Artist-in-Residence with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Further afield, he returned to Taiwan to perform Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme under Jaap van Zweden and the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra. Recent concerto highlights include Fung’s debuts with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom Music Festival, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic and Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Fung made his recital debut at Carnegie Hall in 2021 and was described by Bachtrack as being "one of those rare musicians with a Midas touch: he quickly envelopes every score he plays in an almost palpable golden aura". Other recent highlights include returns to the Wigmore Hall and appearances at the Verbier, Dresden, Janacek and Tsinandali Festivals, La Jolla Chamber Music Society, and Aspen Music Festival. Last season saw Fung’s debut recital tour to China, which included his debuts at Shanghai Concert Hall and NCPA Beijing.
As well as demonstrating a mastery of the canon, Fung brings exceptional insight into the depths of contemporary repertoire, championing composers such as Unsuk Chin, Katherine Balch and Anna Clyne. In 2023 and with the Dallas Symphony, Fung gave the world premiere of Katherine Balch's whisper concerto with ‘jaw-dropping brilliance’ (Dallas Morning News), as dedicatee of the work. It was awarded the the RPS award for Best Large-Scale Composition in 2025.
In April 2025, Signum Records released Fung's debut album, which explores the world of opera fantasies transcribed and arranged for cello and piano. Alongside a collection of fantasies by Bizet, Donizetti, Rossini, Tchaikovsky and Wagner, the album unfolds with Fung's own fantasy based on Leoš Janáček’s Jenůfa. In the same year, he was featured on Classic FM's list of Rising Stars for 2025.
Zlatomir Fung is the youngest cellist ever to win First Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition. Of Bulgarian and Chinese heritage, Fung began playing cello at age three and earned fellowships at Ravinia's Steans Music Institute, Heifetz International Music Institute, MusicAlp, and the Aspen Music Festival and School. A proud recipient of the Kovner Fellowship, Fung studied at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Richard Aaron and Timothy Eddy. In 2024, Fung was appointed to the cello department faculty from the 24/25 academic year.
Fung was announced as a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship Winner in 2022. Fung performs on two fine instruments: a circa 1735 Domenico Montagnana cello, on loan from a generous benefactor, and the 1696 “Lord Aylesford” Stradivarius, on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.
