Victor Vivas was born in Venezuela and began his music studies with El Sistema, where he was able to develop both his individual and ensemble playing skills from a very early age. Victor completed his violin studies at the Academia Latinoamericana de Violin in Venezuela with Jose Francisco Del Castillo, then later at the Kayaleh Violin Academy in Switzerland with Habib Kayaleh. He has participated in masterclasses with many acclaimed pedagogues, including Viktor Pikaisen, Laurence Kayaleh, Virginie Robilliard, Aaron Rosand and Olivier Charlier.
As an orchestral violinist, Victor has performed with the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra in Berlin, the Mediterranean Youth Orchestra in France-Italy, Soloistes de Genève in Switzerland and was a member of the Orquestra do Algarve in Portugal and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra in Venezuela under the direction of Gustavo Dudamel, Claudio Abbado, Benjamin Zander, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, Sergiu Comissiona, Domingo Hindoyan, Keri-Lynn Wilson, Alexander Shelley, among others.
Victor has ten years of teaching experience with the main El Sistema violin academy: Academia Latinoamericana de Violin. Many of his former students are currently professional musicians in France, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Colombia, Venezuela and Argentina.
Victor Vivas joined Sistema New Brunswick in January 2018, as the Fredericton Centre Director; he is a regular performer with Tutta Musica, and First Violins coach of New Brunswick Youth Orchestra and member of the Elm City String Quartet.
