Kian Soltani in an interview

"I want to approach my career in a relaxed manner."

Since winning First Prize at the 2013 International Paulo Cello Competition in Helsinki, the then 24-year-old Kian Soltani has established himself at the highest level of the new generation of cellists. He has also received First Prizes at the Karl Davidoff International Cello Competition in Latvia and the Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition in Croatia. Kian Soltani was a scholarship recipient of the Mozart Society Dortmund and is a scholarship recipient of the renownedAnne-Sophie Mutter Foundation.

Classicpoint.net: We recently published an interview with Ivan Monighetti . You were his student for 11 years. What did he teach you?
His lessons weren't just focused on cello technique. I learned a great deal about the general approach to musical pieces, with everything that goes into it. Sometimes I had to play the piano for him during lessons. I had to accompany him on the piano. I had to recite poems, sing songs, read books he recommended, listen to concerts, go for walks and jogs together. I stayed overnight at his house and talked about all sorts of things. He treated me like a son. We have a very personal relationship. I'm very grateful to him for that. It was much more than just cello lessons.

Looking back on this long period of study, can you divide it into different phases?
I started studying with him when I was 11. He didn't change everything immediately. His teaching method is very slow and gradual. For the first two or three years, I didn't understand everything. It was a getting-to-know-you phase where I simply had to trust him completely, as well as my father. Later, I realized the impact of everything and was able to reap the first rewards of our work together. In the final phase, Ivan Monighetti repaid that trust and gradually let me do more and more on my own. I was able to take on more and more responsibility and grow beyond his teaching methods, so the separation was very natural.

They had to travel weekly from Vorarlberg to Basel and back for lessons. That's a six-hour journey. So, from age 12 to 23, their weekends were pretty much always taken up with lessons in Basel. Didn't you ever miss playing with friends, etc.?
Luckily, lessons weren't always on weekends. I could also go to cello lessons during the week and, after submitting a request, I was given the day off school. My father drove me. I could sleep then. So it was more of a strain on my father. As a 13-year-old, I practiced about three hours a day and still had plenty of time to play with the other children. We played a lot of games with balls in the street. Later, I practiced more and more until I was up to five or six hours a day. As a student, I took my Abitur (university entrance exams) at the same time as the others.

You grew up in Austria. Your family comes from Iran. What about you is Persian?
Quite a lot, actually. Certainly my appearance. Also, I always spoke Persian with my parents. We celebrated all the Persian holidays. We ate Persian food and celebrated Persian festivals. At the same time, I'm also very Austrian. We celebrated those holidays too. For example, I always had two New Year's celebrations. One on New Year's Eve and the Persian one, which is celebrated at the beginning of spring, around March 20th. A typical Persian trait is also an exaggerated politeness, where one often declines offers even if one actually wants to say yes. Even though I don't really do that, I would like to maintain that Persian politeness!

You also play Persian music with your parents, among other things. What does this music mean to you?
Persian music is extremely important to me. It means home, my roots, my childhood, and my family. I grew up with it. But it's only in recent years that I've really begun to study it intensively. I give about one or two concerts a year with my father, not only on the cello, but sometimes also on the kemanche, a lap violin. But my focus is, of course, always on classical music.

As a young cellist who just turned 24, you've already won several competitions, but have now decided to stop participating. What were the reasons for this decision?
At Monighetti, everything revolved around competitions. I participated in a great many competitions. When I left Monighetti, I also stopped participating in competitions at the same time. You always have to ask yourself: Why am I doing competitions? During my time with Monighetti, I did it for the experience and the motivation to practice. It was good to work so focused towards goals, and the successes gave me self-confidence. Then the time came when I no longer needed competitions for motivation, for self-confidence, or to prove something to others.

You are supported by numerous stars, have performed with Martha Argerich, Daniel Barenboim, and others, and are part of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation. Many believe you have a great career ahead of you. Do you feel any pressure from these expectations?
The pressure was always there, even in competitions. Interestingly, I never believed I would win any of the competitions beforehand. I was very relaxed. Perhaps that was the key to success. I have the same relaxed feeling about my career. Of course, I still have high expectations for my cello playing. Ultimately, I can only play as well as I possibly can. If that's enough for a great career, that's wonderful; otherwise, I'll still be happy. I'm very grateful to be supported by such distinguished artists.

You are still very young. What are your career goals, your visions?
I have three great cellist role models: Giovanni Sollima, Steven Isserlis , and Yo-Yo Ma. They differ in their approach. Giovanni Sollima is a magnificent artist who can do everything on the cello—play a wide variety of styles, compose, and he is extremely creative. For me, he is a role model as a freelance musician and artist. Steven Isserlis is, for me, the role model of the classical musician with an absolutely faithful interpretation, meticulously rehearsed. The score is almost a bible, a sacred text. With this incredibly intense and disciplined dedication, he is a great role model for me. Yo-Yo Ma is, for me, a genius with his instinct for the right projects. He is also very open to everything. My goal is to unite these three great characters within myself in order to achieve these qualities. I would also like to have a class someday and teach students.

Do you also compose?
I've only composed one encore piece so far, I improvise a lot and arrange pieces. I'd like to work more in this direction in the future, especially with Persian music.

What else do you do besides music?
A lot, and yet it's all connected to music. I'm the type of person who does something very intensely for a while, and then after some time, I lose interest and move on to something else. I was almost fanatical about certain sports, and later, magic and illusion. I love going to the cinema. After music, films are my greatest passion. If I hadn't become a musician, I would have done something with film: actor, director, film composer, or ideally, all of the above.

Interview by Florian Schär | Classicpoint.net | February 1, 2017
Image © Juventino Mateo

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