Esther Saladin, a young Swiss cellist and scholarship alumna of the Internationale Ensemble Modern Akademie, is a multi-facetted musician indeed: As soloist and chamber musician, her performances run the gamut from the standard repertoire to 20th-century classical music and 21st-century works. Her artistic pursuits give pride of place to freely improvised music and projects transcending fixed definitions of segments or styles. In addition, Esther Saladin performs as the cellist of the Améi Quartet, which devotes itself primarily to premiering and reciting contemporary works.

Raised in a family of musicians in Zurich, she began taking cello and piano lessons while still a toddler. Her first formative teachers were Reto Cuonz and Rebecca Firth (cello), as well as Lorenz Rey and Margie Wu (piano). Her early solo recitals, which featured cello concerti by Camille Saint-Saëns and Joseph Haydn as well as Kol Nidrei by Max Bruch, gave Esther Saladin significant encouragement, spurring her on in her desire to pursue a musical…