Biliana Voutchkova

Biliana Voutchkova is a Bulgarian violinist, composer-performer, improviser and curator whose practice crosses contemporary music, vocal expression, movement and sound art. Born into a family of musicians, she began studying violin at four, made her orchestral debut at nine and recorded her first CD at sixteen. She later studied in the United States at the University of Southern California and Mannes College of Music.

Based between Berlin and the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, her work ranges from solo violin and voice to electroacoustic improvisation, installation, audiovisual performance and long-duration projects. Her collaborations include the Voutchkova/Thieke duo, Jane in Ether, the Splitter Orchestra, Ensemble Modern and Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop. She is also the founder and curator of the DARA String Festival and has taught at the Bern Academy of Arts.

On Creative Sources, Voutchkova is heard on 77 Kids (CS337), a Berlin trio with Ernesto Rodrigues on viola and Micha Rabuske on reeds recorded in April 2010, and The Afterlife of Trees (CS471), with Ernesto Rodrigues, Guilherme Rodrigues and pianist Magda Mayas, recorded at Studioboerne 45 in Berlin in October 2016. These two recordings illuminate the interplay of her expressive violin sound with open-form ensemble improvisation.