Vasil Garvanliev

Vasil Garvanliev, who performs as Vasil, is a Macedonian singer born on 2 November 1984 in Strumica. Trained as an opera singer, he moved into pop in his thirties and represented North Macedonia at the Eurovision Song Contest.

He started singing at seven, after a Macedonian composer heard him singing in the street, and recorded an album at eight that included "Marionka", which he performed at the Zlatno Slavejče children's festival in 1994. In 1997 his family moved to the United States, where he sang with the Chicago Children's Choir from 1999 to 2003, made his debut at Carnegie Hall and performed with Yo-Yo Ma.

After a short time at the La Scala Theatre Academy in Milan he settled in Toronto, earning a performance diploma at The Glenn Gould School and an opera diploma from the University of Toronto in 2010. He went on through the Calgary Opera Emerging Artists programme and sang as a guest with Opera Atelier, working as a baritone for thirteen years with more than fifty leading roles. He was also a finalist of the Montreal International Musical Competition in 2015 and sang backing vocals on Chance the Rapper's Coloring Book.

His first try at pop at home was "Pomogni mi", 13th in the Skopje Fest qualifiers in 2007. After settling back in Macedonia in 2018 he released "Gerdan", then "Patuvam" in 2019, and he was one of the backing singers for Tamara Todevska's "Proud" at Eurovision 2019.

MRT chose Vasil to represent the country in 2020 with "You", but the contest in Rotterdam was cancelled. He was confirmed again for 2021 and sang "Here I Stand", which he wrote with Borče Kuzmanovski and Davor Jordanovski; in the first semi-final on 18 May 2021 it finished 15th of 16 and did not reach the final.

His singles since include "Mojata ulica", "Prikazna" and "SudBina", and in 2022 the English-language "Beautiful", "Dangerous Waters" and "Rhythm".