VC Artist Zlatomir Fung’s New Work, “Fantasy on Jenůfa” 

Zlatomir has composed a new fantasy on Janáček’s opera "Jenůfa," that will be featured on his debut album

Cellist and VC Artist Zlatomir Fung will see his debut album released on Signum Records this April, all centered around 19th and 21st-century operatic fantasies. 

One of the works on the album includes Zlatomir’s own Fantasy on Jenůfa, which is inspired by Leoš Janáček’s opera Jenůfa completed in 1903. He performs with pianist Richard Fu on the album. A snippet can be heard below:

 

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Other works on the release include the world premiere recordings of Marshall Estrin’s Fantasia Carmén (written especially for Zlatomir), and an unknown transcription of Rossini’s William Tell by the 19th-century composer François-George Hainl.

“I’m tremendously excited to share … a new project I’ve been working on for several months [Fantasy on Jenůfa],” Zlatomir posted on Instagram in 2023. “The work is a 15-min long single movement fantasy inspired by the tradition of 19th century virtuoso opera fantasies … This is among the many works inspired by opera that I will be recording next month for my debut album.”

“One of the [things] I'm really excited about on this album is the Fantasy on Jenůfa that I've been working on for the past year,” he explained. “For me, what I was trying to do with it was create something that is still in the tradition of the virtuoso cello and showing off the capacity of the cello to express a lot of different things but to also arrange a piece that would have an emotional arc that works on its own terms.”

A video of Zlatomir discussing his new album can be viewed below:

The youngest musician and first American in 40 years to win First Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition Cello Division, Zlatomir Fung has since won critical acclaim and performed all over the world.  

Fung was a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship Winner in 2022 and awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2020. He has also been featured on NPR’s Performance Today and on NPR’s From the Top. 

Upcoming projects include concerto appearances with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, San Antonio Philharmonic, Barcelona Symphony, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and more. This season also marks his first as cello faculty at his alma mater, The Juilliard School, where he studied with Richard Aaron and Timothy Eddy. 

Zlatomir performs on a c. 1735 Domenico Montagnana cello, on loan from a generous benefactor, and the 1696 “Lord Aylesford” Stradivarius, on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.