Kian Soltani and Amsterdam Sinfonietta

Amsterdam Sinfonietta is a world-class ensemble comprising 23 top-tier musicians who perform together as a unified whole. Under the leadership of artistic director Candida Thompson, the orchestra tours globally with adventurous programs. With immense passion, Amsterdam Sinfonietta has become the premier string orchestra in the Netherlands, renowned for its commitment to excellence and artistic innovation. The orchestra embraces the entire string orchestra repertoire, from classical masterpieces to newly commissioned works and arrangements, while also exploring cross-genre collaborations with film, dance, theatre and other art forms.

Founded in March 1988 with Lev Markiz as its first artistic director, the orchestra has grown significantly. Since Candida Thompson took over in 2003, Amsterdam Sinfonietta has become a regular performer in European concert halls and has toured across Europe, Asia, America, and Australia. The orchestra has performed in renowned venues such as the Barbican Hall in London, the Cité de la Musique in Paris, the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and the Wiener Konzerthaus.

The orchestra collaborates with top national and international soloists such as Janine Jansen, Sol Gabetta, Kian Soltani, Thomas Hampson, Fazil Say, Beatrice Rana, Angélique Kidjo, Rufus Wainwright, and Wende, all of whom share the orchestra’s curiosity and commitment to innovation.

In addition to live performances, Amsterdam Sinfonietta is an active recording orchestra, regularly producing albums and music films. Since 2004, the orchestra has released 16 albums with its in-house label Channel Classics, including The Mahler Album, The Argentinian Album, Formidable! and most recently Pärt über Bach. It has also recorded for the labels ECM, Sony Classical, and Deutsche Grammophon. Its first music film, Strings, premiered in March 2020, followed by releases of the films Misirlou (traditional), Atashgah (Jacobsen), Sus-Septed Tempus V (Layegh), Tango (Piazzolla), Tabula rasa (Pärt), and the animation Alla Tarantella (Schulhoff). In Sep 2024, the orchestra released One Zero Six Zero, a cinematic adaptation of Bach's Double Concerto in C minor, directed by Maarten Corbijn.

Through the Sinfonietta Academy, young talented musicians have the opportunity to learn from the orchestra’s unique approach to ensemble playing. Additionally, Amsterdam Sinfonietta introduces thousands of children to classical music and string instruments each year through its KleuterSinfonietta performances and children’s workshops.

Candida Thompson is renowned for her exceptional musical communication and honest musicianship. Her curiosity and research led her to pioneering programmes and collaborations that cross boundaries of culture, time and genre.

Candida studied violin with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music in London and completed her studies at the Banff Center for the Arts in Canada. A pivotal moment in her musical development was an invitation to participate in a series of masterclasses and concerts with Isaac Stern. She has since been invited to perform and direct prominent ensembles as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, City of London Sinfonia, Guildhall String Ensemble, Camerata Nordica, Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Camerata Salzburg.  

 In 2003 Candida became artistic director of Amsterdam Sinfonietta, a world-class string ensemble with an international focus and reputation. As a performer and director, she established a well-attended adventurous concert series in the Netherlands, which frequently tours Europe, South America, China and Australia. The ensemble also recorded for labels including Deutsche Grammophon, Sony, Decca, ECM and has a long-standing relationship with Channel Classics.

Chamber music remains at the heart of Candida’s musical pursuits. She regularly collaborates with kindred musical spirits like Bruno Giuranna, Xenia Yankovich, Harriët Krijgh, Alexander Gavrylyuk, Victor-Julien Laferrière, Iris Juda and Janine Jansen. She is a frequent guest at festivals such as the Kuhmo Festival in Finland, Ernen Festival in Switzerland, La Musica Sarasota in the US, Harriet & Friends in Austria, as well as performing at the Utrecht Kamermuziek Festival.

As a passionate advocate for the classical music tradition and a keen interest in contemporary cultural developments, Candida actively engages in artistic dialogue. This has led to compelling projects involving living composers such as Jörg Widmann, Thomas Larcher, Michel van der Aa, as well as collaborations with philosophers, photographers, urban dancers, actors, and light designers.

Candida is deeply committed to nurturing the next generation of musicians. She is a regular guest coach at institutions like Villa Musica Chamber Music in Germany and the Guildhall School in London, where she works with and performs alongside young talents.

Candida plays on a Guarneri, del Gesù violin (1698-1744), generously loaned by a private collector.

Hailed by The Times as a “remarkable cellist” and described by Gramophone as “sheer perfection”, Kian Soltani’s playing is characterised by a depth of expression, sense of individuality and technical mastery, alongside a charismatic stage presence and ability to create an immediate emotional connection with his audience. He is now invited by the world’s leading orchestras, conductors and recital promoters, propelling him from rising star to one of the most talked about cellists performing today.

In the 23/24 season, he is the Focus Artist of Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and will share stages with Wiener Symphoniker, WDR Sinfonieorchester, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, and NHK Symphony Orchestra. Aside from orchestral and recital concerts, he will maintain a busy schedule, comprising tours with Camerata Salzburg and Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

His recent orchestral highlights include Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. As a recitalist, he continues to appear in prestigious halls and series including Pierre Boulez Saal, Berlin, Wigmore Hall, London, Schubertiade, Musikverein, Vienna, Beethovenhaus, Bonn and Konzerthaus Dortmund.

In 2017, Soltani signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon and his first album, Home, comprising works for cello and piano by Schubert, Schumann and Reza Vali, was released to international acclaim in 2018, with Gramophone describing the recording as “sublime”. Soltani has since recorded several other discs including the Dvorak and Tchaikovsky Piano Trios with Lahav Shani and Renaud Capucon, recorded live at Aix Easter Festival in 2018, released by Warner Classics and Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with the Staatskapelle Berlin and Daniel Barenboim in August 2020.

He recently won the Innovative Listening Experience Award at the coveted Opus Klassic Awards 2022, Germany’s most prestigious classical music prize which honours outstanding artists and recordings, for his Cello Unlimited album released in October 2021. He worked on this disc with Deutsche Grammophon throughout 2020, and it is a celebration of the cello and film music. Of the disc, Soltani wrote “Everything you will hear on this album is made only and exclusively with my cello and played only by me. The possibilities of this instrument are unlimited and infinite, and this album is a celebration of the instrument and of epic film music as well”.

Soltani attracted worldwide attention in April 2013 as winner of the International Paulo Cello Competition in Helsinki. In February 2017, Soltani won Germany’s celebrated Leonard Bernstein Award and in December 2017, he was awarded the prestigious Credit Suisse Young Artist Award.

Born in Bregenz, Austria, in 1992 to a family of Persian musicians, Soltani began playing the cello at age four and was only 12 when he joined Ivan Monighetti’s class at the Basel Music Academy. He was chosen as an Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation scholarship holder in 2014 and completed his further studies as a member of the Young Soloist Programme at Germany’s Kronberg Academy. He received additional vital musical training at the International Music Academy in Liechtenstein. As of October 2023, he holds the position of professor of cello at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria.

Kian Soltani plays the “London, Ex Boccherini" Antonio Stradivari cello, kindly loaned to him by a generous sponsor through the Beares International Violin Society.