Aurelia Faidley-Solars is a 13-year old American cellist who has garnered international attention as a young concert artist. Aurelia currently studies at the Juilliard School of Music and is the recipient of The Jacobs Scholarship in Music. She is also a 2023-2024 From the Top Fellow and a very proud member of the Beare’s International Violin Society. Aurelia made her orchestra debut with the Amati Orchestra in Lausanne, Switzerland, receiving nine curtain calls for her performance of Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C Major. She has also performed with the Sempre Musick Symphony in Boston, the Metropolitan Symphony of New York, the Montgomery Symphony in Ohio, the NJ Virtuosi Sinfonietta in New Jersey, and the Manhattan Sinfonietta. As a soloist, Aurelia has appeared in Prague, Vienna, Budapest, and London. Aurelia is a prizewinner in numerous competitions, including the Fox Valley Concerto Competition in Chicago, the Ambler Symphony Concerto Competition in Philadelphia, the Hill Concerto Competition in NYC, the Sound Symphony Concerto Competition in New York, the Vienna International Music Competition, the CelloWorld Concerto Competition in Vienna, the Petrichor Competition, the Birmingham International Competition in London. She is the youngest prizewinner in the history of The Ronald Sachs International Competition, as well as the two-time New Eastern regionals winner for the Music Teachers’ National Association. She was also awarded the prestigious Aaron Rosand Memorial Prize and is the 2023 Menges Scholarship recipient. Aurelia is the youngest finalist in the history for the Artist Presentation Society and was the only student featured in a solo performance celebrating the 130th Anniversary of the New World Symphony, a joint project between the United States and The Czech Republic. Aurelia was the 2023 soloist chosen for the “Young Artists Performers” series in South Carolina, and has toured throughout the northeastern and southeastern United States. Aurelia is working on her second album with Petrichor Records, due out in Summer, 2023 with the Elgar Cello Concerto in E Minor. At the age of 12, Aurelia released her first album, “From Bach to Summerland” and was reviewed by writer Huntley Dent for New York Classical Review. “She’s a wonderfully gifted 12-year-old with remarkable technique and a musical understanding beyond her years. If you wonder how such a young performer might fare in the Elgar Cello Concerto, Faidley puts on her Jacqueline du Pré cap for a passionately felt introduction…”. Aurelia currently studies with Fred Sherry. Her major pedagogical influences include Diego Garcia, her very first teacher, and Hans Jorgen Jensen, her long-time teacher and mentor. She has studied with or appeared in masterclasses with Laurence Lesser, Richard Aaron, Darrett Adkins, Brannon Cho, Phillipe Muller, David Finckel, Ralph Kirschbaum, Amit Peled, Stephen Doane, Rosemary Elliot, Peter Stumpf, Jean-Michel Fonteneau, Clive Greensmith, Matt Haimovitz, Zvi Plesser, Tomasz Strahl, Andres Diaz, Lluis Claret, and Tao Ni, and Pablo Ferrandez. Other major influences include John-Henry Crawford and Zlatomir Fung. In the summer of 2023, Aurelia attended Morningside Music Bridge, a full scholarship program for highly gifted students between the ages of 13-18 where she featured in a number of “Emerging Artists” concerts and masterclasses. Besides 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’s Night Dream”. In 2023, she attended the Royal Ballet School’s Summer Intensive Program in London. She loves art of all kinds, singing, and animals. She owns a 1.5 year old crested gecko named “Autumn”.