A cello sound with the richness of caramel

Kian Soltani is an Austrian cellist whose parents are Iranian.

The winner of highly prestigious awards, such as the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award and Germany’s Leonard Bernstein Award, his recording debut was with Deutsche Grammophon in 2017. The album, Home, featured works for cello and piano by Schubert and Schumann. Gramophone magazine has described his playing as “sublime” and “sheer perfection”, while The Washington Post has waxed lyrical: “His cello sound has the fuzz and richness of caramel, and he plays with an easy warmth, drawing the orchestra after him like a halo around a candle flame.”

With the Balearic Symphony Orchestra, he will be going back to Robert Schumann for the Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129. Considered to be a work that is technically highly demanding, it requires an interpreter of the highest order, and Kian Soltani is just that.