Aurelia Faidley-Solars is a 13-year-old American cellist who has garnered international attention as a young concert artist. She currently studies with Fred Sherry at the Juilliard School of Music and is the recipient of The Jacobs Scholarship in Music. Aurelia is also a 2023–2024 From the Top Fellow and a proud member of the Beare’s International Violin Society.
She made her orchestral debut with the Amati Orchestra in Lausanne, Switzerland, earning nine curtain calls for her performance of Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C Major. She has performed with the Sempre Musick Symphony in Boston, the Metropolitan Symphony of New York, the Montgomery Symphony in Ohio, the NJ Virtuosi Sinfonietta, and the Manhattan Sinfonietta. As a soloist, Aurelia has performed internationally in Prague, Vienna, Budapest, and London.
Aurelia is a prizewinner in numerous competitions, including the Fox Valley Concerto Competition, Ambler Symphony Concerto Competition, Hill Concerto Competition, Sound Symphony Concerto Competition, Vienna International Music Competition, CelloWorld Concerto Competition, Petrichor Competition, and the Birmingham International Competition. She is the youngest prizewinner in the history of the Ronald Sachs International Competition, a two-time New Eastern Regionals winner for the Music Teachers’ National Association, recipient of the Aaron Rosand Memorial Prize, and 2023 Menges Scholarship recipient.
She was the youngest finalist in the history of the Artist Presentation Society and the only student featured in a solo performance celebrating the 130th Anniversary of the New World Symphony, a joint U.S.–Czech project. Aurelia was also the 2023 soloist chosen for the “Young Artists Performers” series in South Carolina and has toured extensively throughout the northeastern and southeastern United States.
Aurelia released her first album, “From Bach to Summerland,” at age 12, which received critical acclaim from New York Classical Review, praising her “remarkable technique and musical understanding beyond her years.” She is currently recording her second album with Petrichor Records, featuring the Elgar Cello Concerto in E Minor, slated for release in Summer 2023.
Her pedagogical influences include Diego Garcia and Hans Jorgen Jensen, and she has studied or appeared in masterclasses with Laurence Lesser, Richard Aaron, Darrett Adkins, Brannon Cho, Philippe Muller, David Finckel, Ralph Kirschbaum, Amit Peled, Stephen Doane, Rosemary Elliott, Peter Stumpf, Jean-Michel Fonteneau, Clive Greensmith, Matt Haimovitz, Zvi Plesser, Tomasz Strahl, Andres Diaz, Lluis Claret, Tao Ni, and Pablo Ferrandez. Other major influences include John-Henry Crawford and Zlatomir Fung. In summer 2023, Aurelia attended Morningside Music Bridge, a full scholarship program for highly gifted students, performing in several “Emerging Artists” concerts and masterclasses.
Outside of cello, Aurelia is a dedicated ballet dancer, studying in the Pre-Professional division at the School of American Ballet. She has performed featured roles in the New York City Ballet’s The Nutcracker and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and attended the Royal Ballet School Summer Intensive in London in 2023. She also enjoys art, singing, and animals, and has a 1.5-year-old crested gecko named “Autumn.”
