“Kian Soltani … is at the start of a starry career ... His sound has the fuzz and richness of caramel, and he plays with an easy warmth … Soltani was drawing them after him like a halo around a candle flame”

“Kian Soltani is a wonderful cellist with dazzling intonation and clarity of sound extending to the instrument’s highest register. His portrayal of Cervantes’s hero as conceived by Strauss was compellingly captured with humor and pathos”

“[Kian] Soltani plays with great ease, radiates enjoyment in playing, and blends seamlessly into the whole”

“Soltani’s personable cello led the way with a performance by turns languid and impetuous, touched now by grandiosity and now by lyric pathos”

“Soltani’s Don revealed an eloquent dreaminess that was gently yet playfully levelled by Manasherov’s persuasively level-headed Sancho. The performance of the tone poem overall had an irresistible appeal”

“Soltani captivated [the audience] with velvety soft tones and diverse dynamics on his cello of the Grancino brothers”

“The magical cellist ... His playing is both impeccable and inspired, it is melodic, it is the true voice of the cello, a tribute to the instrument ...”