| Biography | By the time he won first prize at the International Paulo Cello Competition 2013 in Helsinki, the 22-year-old Kian Soltani had joined the top rank of todays new generation of cello soloists. His earlier first prizes include the Karl Davidoff International Cello Competition in Latvia as well as the International Antonio Janigro Competition in Croatia. Kian Soltani holds a scholarship at the Mozart-Gesellschaft Dortmund and is a member of the renowned Anne-Sophie Mutter foundation.
Born in Bregenz, Austria into an Persian family of musicians, Kian Soltani was only twelve when he was accepted into the class of Ivan Monighetti, with whom studied 11 years at the Basle Music Academy. Since October 2014 he is part of the Young Soloist program at the Kronberg Academy in Germany with Frans Helmerson. Other strong influences have come from his studies at the International Music Academy of Liechtenstein as well as from renowned artists such as Sol Gabetta, Wolfgang Boettcher, Valter Despalj, Gerhard Mantel, David Geringas, Pieter Wispelwey, Jens Peter Maintz, Antonio Meneses and Bernard Greenhouse. Kian Soltani regularly tours as principal Cellist with the West-Easter Divan Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim.
At the age of 19, Kian Soltani made his successful solo debut in the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein and at the Schubertiade in Hohenems. His appearances as a soloist and chamber musician have since included festivals and concerts with leading orchestras and at prominent halls in Europe, Asia and North America (the Vienna Musikverein, Hohenems Schubertiade, Kronberg Cello Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, iPalpiti Festival in Los Angeles, Eilat Chamber Music Festival in Israel, Zagreb International Chamber Music Festival, Next Generation Classic Festival in Bad Ragaz and the Sommets Musicaux of Gstaad). As a soloist, Soltani has appeared with such ensembles as the Zagreb Soloists, the Georgian Chamber Orchestra, Arpeggione Chamber Orchestra, Basle Sinfonietta, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Liechtenstein Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Jyväskylä Sinfonia and the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra and collaborated with conductors including David Geringas, Zlatan Srzic, Sebastian Tewinkel, Ivan Monighetti, Florian Krumpöck, John Storgårds, Yasuo Shinozaki, Jukka Iisakkila and Peter Csaba.
Kian Soltanis first CD was a collaboration with his teacher Ivan Monighetti in Ireland, where he made world premiere recordings for the LCMS label of works by Sofia Gubaidulina, Franghiz Ali-Zadeh and other composers. The CD Metamorphoses appeared in October 2012.
Projects in 2015 include concerts with the Zürich Tonhalle-Orchestra, a summer tour as soloist with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and Beethovens Triple-Concerto with Daniel Barenboim as pianist and conductor (Salzburg, Lucerne, London, Berlin, Buenos Aires), his own chamber music weekend Kian Soltani and his guests at the Schubertiade in Hohenems and the premiere of the Cello Concerto by Reza Vali, dedicated to Kian Soltani.
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