Iranian – All Classical Research

Born in Bregenz, Austria, 1992

[KEE-ahn SOL-tah-nee]

Kian Soltani is an Austrian-Iranian cellist and composer. He was born to a family of Persian musicians and began studying the cello at just four years old.
Soltani was invited to join the Basel Music Academy at age 12. In 2014, he won the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation scholarship and completed his musical studies at the Kronberg Academy in Germany and the International Music Academy in Liechtenstein.
Soltani is known first and foremost as a cellist, performing with such renowned ensembles as the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Staatskapelle Berlin, Munich Philharmonic, Wiener Symphoniker, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, and Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
In 2023, Soltani was appointed to the faculty of Vienna’s University of Music and Performing Arts.¹
For fun – Soltani’s Tiny Desk Concert

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Composer’s website

Born in Ghazvin, Iran, 1952

[reh-ZAH vah-LEE]

Reza Vali began his musical training at the Conservatory of Music in Tehran, followed by studies in education and composition at the Academy of Music in Vienna.
In 1985, Vali moved to the U.S. to pursue his Ph.D. in music theory and composition at the University of Pittsburgh.
As an educator, Vali has been on the faculty of the School of Music at Carnegie Mellon University since 1988.
As a composer, Vali’s works have been performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Baltimore Symphony, and the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, among others. His oeuvre consists of works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, and voice.²

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Composer’s website