Choose artist...
Home   >   Projects

Projects

Artist: Kian Soltani
Projects per page:
Kian Soltani:

Home

A protegé of Anne-Sophie Mutter and Daniel Barenboim, and hailed by The Times as a “remarkable cellist” and described by Gramophone as “sheer perfection”, Kian Soltani’s playing is characterised by a depth of expression, sense of individuality and technical mastery, alongside a charismatic stage presence and ability to create an immediate emotional connection with his audience. He is now invited by the world’s leading orchestras, conductors and recital promoters, propelling him from rising star to one of the most talked about cellists performing today.

In 23/24 season he is the Focus Artist of Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and will share stages with Wiener Symphoniker, WDR Sinfonieorchester, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, and NHK Symphony Orchestra. Aside from orchestral and recital concerts, he will maintain busy schedule comprising of tours with Camerata Salzburg and Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

His recent orchestral highlights include Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. As a recitalist he continues to appear in prestigious halls and series including Pierre Boulez Saal, Berlin; Wigmore Hall, London; Schubertiade; Musikverein, Vienna; Beethovenhaus, Bonn; and Konzerthaus Dortmund.

In 2017, Soltani signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon and his first disc ‘Home’, comprising works for cello and piano by Schubert, Schumann and Reza Vali, was released to international acclaim in 2018, with Gramophone describing the recording as “sublime”. Soltani has since recorded discs including the Dvorak and Tchaikovsky Piano Trios with Lahav Shani and Renaud Capucon, recorded live at Aix Easter Festival in 2018 released by Warner Classics and Dvorák’s Cello Concerto with the Staatskapelle Berlin and Daniel Barenboim in August 2020.

The 25-year-old cellist Kian Soltani releases his debut DG album performed with pianist Aaron Pilsan, Home. Reflecting his Austrian and Persian roots, Home features Schubert's Sonata in A Minor (Arpeggione) and Schumann's "Du bist wie eine Blume," as well as world premiere recordings of Iranian composer Reza Vali's Seven Persian Folk Songs, written for Soltani, and the young cellist's own composition, Persian Fire Dance. 

Kian Soltani:

Schumann

For his new Deutsche Grammophon album, cellist Kian Soltani is focusing on the music of Schumann. The cornerstone of Soltani’s much-anticipated follow-up to Cello Unlimited – winner of the 2022 OPUS KLASSIK Innovative Listening Experience award – is Schumann’s masterful Cello Concerto in A minor, op. 129. This is a work Soltani has played to enormous acclaim many times (“The cello bow seemed to be a mere extension of his arm, his fingers flying over the fingerboard as if it were the most natural thing in the world … an unforgettable musical experience” – Seen and Heard International on his performance with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich in September 2023). 

Joined here by the players of Camerata Salzburg, led by concertmaster Gregory Ahss, Soltani directs the ensemble from the cello in the Concerto and in orchestrations of four other works by Schumann. The album also features Soltani’s own transcriptions for cello and piano of music by both Robert and Clara Schumann, in which he is accompanied by French pianist Julien Quentin. Kian Soltani – Schumann is released digitally and on CD on today. The orchestrated version of “Abendlied” from the 12 Klavierstücke, op. 85 is available to stream or download, complete with performance video, and the Sehr lebhaft finale of the Cello Concerto.

Kian Soltani:

Cello Unlimited

Kian Soltani will never forget his first encounter with Spider-Man. The Austrian-Iranian cellist was just ten when he saw the first of Sam Raimi's epic movies about Peter Parker and his superhuman spider-like powers. He was held spellbound by its visuals and by its soundtrack, the experience sparking a lasting love affair with film. The enormous pleasure and inspiration Soltani takes from the cinema come together in his latest album for Deutsche Grammophon, a voyage through movie music like no other. Cello Unlimited, set for international release on 8 October 2021, offers a uniquely personal take on unforgettable themes and epic musical thrills from, among others, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Lord of the Rings, The Bourne Identity and The Da Vinci Code.

"Everything on this album is made exclusively with the cello," explains the cellist. Soltani recorded every note himself, from soaring solo melodies to infectious percussion sounds, mighty orchestral chords to whistling countermelodies. Having chosen his favourite film scores, he reimagined them for a supersized cello ensemble and played each part by ear. Multitrack recording sessions at Berlin's Emil Berliner Studios, a giant leap from Soltani's early experiments with his iPhone's GarageBand app, enabled him to construct deep layers of sound and uncanny contrasts of tonal light and shade, always by recording without reference to notes on a page. The painstaking creative approach, a genuine labour of love, was emotional and intuitive, rooted in what the cellist described as his immediate "aural impression" of scores conceived for the big screen.

When lockdowns were imposed last year, Soltani's live schedule was transformed overnight from packed to near empty. He returned to his archive of film score arrangements, essentially documents of ideas recorded in the moment, and it occurred to him they contained the makings of a recording project. "I realised it would take a lot of time," he recalls. "But I now had a lot of time! So I thought, why not give it everything? Why not spend all the time I have pursuing a dream I've had for many, many years, to create an album made exclusively from my own arrangements of epic movie scores."

Kian Soltani:

Dvorak Cello Concerto, Staat Berlin, Barenboim

Praised by The Washington Post for playing with "an easy warmth, drawing the orchestra after him like a halo around a candle flame," cellist Kian Soltani follows his DG debut album, Home, with a Dvorák album centered on the famous cello concerto. Featuring Maestro Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin, the concerto is paired with five arrangements of beloved Dvorák pieces, three of which Soltani arranged himself.