Biography
Who is Vasil Garvanliev?
Early life and music beginnings
Vasil Garvanliev was born on November 2, 1984, in Strumica, North Macedonia. He started singing at the age of seven after a local composer heard him performing in the street. At age eight, he released an album featuring the Japanese-influenced track Marionka. By 1994, at age ten, he performed this song during the annual Macedonian children's song festival Zlatno Slavejče.
In 1997, during the Kosovo War, he moved to the United States as a refugee with his parents and brother. He joined the Chicago Children's Choir, eventually becoming a main soloist and performing at Carnegie Hall. He sang backing vocals for prominent artists and performed at the White House for President George H. W. Bush. Following immigration changes after the September 11 attacks, his family was deported due to paperwork issues, and Vasil later moved to Milan and London before settling in Toronto, Canada, in 2004.
Classical and opera career
In Canada, Vasil Garvanliev studied at The Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto from 2004 to 2008, earning a performance diploma in Voice. He subsequently earned a diploma in opera from the University of Toronto in 2010 and graduated from Calgary Opera's Emerging Artists program. He performed as a baritone and sang over fifty lead roles during a thirteen-year opera career.
He served as a guest artist in Opera Atelier for nine years and participated in the Highlands Opera Studio in Haliburton, Ontario. He also spent more than four years as a guest soloist in the Young Artist Program at the Calgary Opera. In 2015, he was a finalist in the Montreal International Musical Competition. After living in Canada for a decade, he returned to Europe, spending time in London for additional training before returning to North Macedonia in 2018.
Pop music and Eurovision
Alongside his classical pursuits, Vasil Garvanliev pursued a pop music career. He entered the Skopje Fest qualification rounds for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2007 with his self-written song Pomogni mi. In 2016, he provided backing vocals on four tracks for Chance the Rapper's album Coloring Book, including All We Got and Same Drugs. He also released the pop singles Gerdan in 2018, Patuvam in 2019, and Mojata Ulica in 2020.
He served as a backing vocalist for the Macedonian entry Proud, performed by Tamara Todevska at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest. In January 2020, Macedonian Radio Television announced him as the internal selection to represent North Macedonia in the 2020 contest with the song You. After the 2020 event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he returned for the 2021 contest performing the song Here I Stand, which was written by Borce Kuzmanovski, Davor Jordanovski, and Vasil himself.
Birthday and age
Vasil Garvanliev was born on November 2, 1984, which makes Vasil 41 years old today. That birthday falls under the Scorpio sign. Vasil shares the date with 28 other famous people.
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