VC Artist Cellist Kian Soltani Awarded $76,000 Credit Suisse Bursary

VC Artist Kian Soltani has been announced as the 2017 recipient of the highly coveted ‘Credit Suisse Young Artist Award‘

25 year old Persian-Austrian cellist, VC Artist Kian Soltani has today been announced as the 2017 recipient of the highly coveted ‘Credit Suisse Young Artist Award‘, in Vienna, Austria.

Praised as one of the most prodigious young concert artists to emerge in recent years, Kian will receive 75,000 Swiss Francs (USD $76,000) – and a prestigious solo engagement with conductor Franz Welser-Möst and the Vienna Philharmonic as part of next year’s Lucerne Festival.

The coveted bursary is awarded every two years to a highly talented young soloist with the aim of providing the means and opportunity to perform – thus enabling them to make the decisive breakthrough to a major international career.

“I feel so honored and appreciative to receive this prize … I can’t thank Credit Suisse enough - this bursary will help me enormously at this early stage of my career,” Kian has told The Violin Channel.

“Growing up in Austria, the Vienna Philharmonic has made such a huge impact on my life and on me personally as a musician … being invited to perform with them is truly a dream come true,” the former Antonio Janigro, Karl Davidoff and Paulo International Cello Competitions 1st prize winner has said.

Previous recipients include: violinists Vilde Frang and Sergey Khachatryan, violist Antoine Tamest and cellists Nicolas Altstaedt and Sol Gabetta.

In July of this year, it was announced the Kronberg Academy graduate had signed an exclusive recording contract with the Deutsche Grammophon label.

He currently performs on the 1694 'London' Stradivarius cello - on generous loan from the Beare's International Violin Society.