Cellist
Kian Soltani has emerged from
Daniel Barenboim's
West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, in which he has served as principal cellist and begun a significant solo career. Signed to the Deutsche Grammophon label, he has been exceptionally active as a recording artist, issuing six albums on the label in three years.
Soltani was born in Bregenz, Austria, on June 3, 1992. He is of Iranian background and came from a family of musicians.
Soltani took up the cello at age four and showed major talent as a child, enrolling at the Basel Music Academy when he was 12. His teacher there was
Ivan Monighetti.
Soltani moved on to the Kronberg Academy in Germany's Taunus region, where he benefited from scholarship support from the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation and was a member of the Young Soloists' Program. He also studied at Liechtenstein's International Music Academy. He also studied at Liechtenstein's International Music Academy.
Soltani made an impressive debut at age 19 at the Goldener Saal at Vienna's venerable Musikverein society, following it up with first prizes at the Paulo Cello Competition in Helsinki, the Karl Davidoff Competition in Latvia, and the Antonio Janigro Competition in Croatia.
After joining the
West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, conductor
Daniel Barenboim's pioneering ensemble uniting Israeli and Arab musicians,
Soltani took a major role when he appeared as soloist in the
Beethoven Triple Concerto, Op. 56, with
Barenboim on piano, during the orchestra's 2015 tour, performing at the Lucerne and Salzburg Festivals and the Waldbühnen summer concert in Berlin. That led to other solo appearances at the BBC Proms and with such groups as the
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, and the
Orchestre de Paris.
Soltani took a solo role in
Strauss' Don Quixote under
Barenboim in the
West-Eastern Divan's 2017 tour and made a series of major appearances in Germany, Austria, and France during the 2017-2018 season. In 2017, he was signed to the Deutsche Grammophon label, and early in 2018, he released his debut album,
Home, featuring works by
Schubert and
Schumann as well as his own folk song settings and those by Iranian composer
Reza Vali.
Soltani continued to be prominently featured in
West-Eastern Divan Orchestra concerts into the early 2020s, and his solo career has grown as he has made concerto appearances with such groups as the
Munich Philharmonic, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and the
ORF Vienna Radio Symphony. His chamber music appearances have been notable as he has collaborated with
Daniel and
Michael Barenboim in trios, and with other players, including
Lahav Shani and
Renaud Capuçon. In 2020,
Soltani released two albums, one of
Beethoven's piano trios with the Barenboims and one of
Dvořák's Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, with the
Staatskapelle Dresden.
Soltani returned with the film music album Cello Unlimited in 2021. ~ James Manheim