Kian Soltani was born June 3, 1992, in Bregenz, Austria, into a family of Iranian musicians. He began cello at age four, studied with Ivan Monighetti at the Basel Music Academy from age twelve, and completed advanced training through the Young Soloist Programme at the Kronberg Academy and the International Music Academy in Liechtenstein. He served as principal cellist of Daniel Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, gaining prominence for his performances of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto during the orchestra’s 2015 tour.

Soltani’s competition honors include the Paulo Cello Competition (2013), the Karl Davidoff International Cello Competition, the Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition, and the Leonard Bernstein Award at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival (2017); he is also a member of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation. He signed with Deutsche Grammophon in 2017, releasing his debut album ‘Home’ (2018) pairing Schubert and Schumann with folk-inspired arrangements, and held an Artist-in-Residence position with the Residentie Orkest in The Hague (2018-19).