Aurelia performs on Show 441.

Aurelia Faidley-Solars (cello), 13, hails from New York, New York and 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 of Music.  She is a very proud member of the Beare’s International Violin Society.

Aurelia made her orchestral 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 New Hampshire Philharmonic, the Fox Valley Symphony in Chicago, the Ashland Symphony Orchestra in Ohio, the Sempre Musick Symphony in Boston, the Metropolitan Symphony of New York, the Montgomery Symphony in Ohio, the NJ Virtuosi Sinfonietta in New Jersey, the SEEN Orchestra in Chicago, and the Manhattan Sinfonietta.  As a soloist, Aurelia has appeared in Prague, Vienna, Budapest, and London.

Aurelia is the youngest prizewinner in the history of The Ronald Sachs International Competition, as well as the three-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 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 and in 2022, she attended the Meadowmount School of Music.

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.  In 2023, Aurelia became a Congressional Award winner for visual arts.  She owns a 2- year old crested gecko named “Autumn”.

Peter was named Host of From the Top in January 2020.

Peter Dugan’s position is sponsored by Susan and Gerald Slavet.

Peter first appeared on From the Top Show 158, recorded in April 2007, at age 18.

Prizing versatility as the key to the future of classical music, pianist Peter Dugan is equally at home in classical, jazz, and pop idioms.

He is heard nationwide as the  host of NPR’s beloved program From the Top.  He has appeared as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician across North America and abroad. 

In 2020, Mr Dugan performed with Joshua Bell on a PBS Broadcast “At Home with Music” and appeared on  the album of the same name on Sony Classical. He was also featured on PBS Great Performances with mezzo-soprano Kara Dugan for the series “Now Hear This”.

A sought-after multi-genre artist, Mr. Dugan has performed in duos and trios with artists ranging from Itzhak Perlman and Renee Fleming to Jesse Colin Young and Glenn Close. Mr Dugan’s debut performances with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony were described by the Los Angeles Times as “stunning” and by the SF Chronicle as “fearlessly athletic.” The Wall Street Journal described Mr. Dugan’s collaboration with violinist Charles Yang as a “classical-meets-rockstar duo.” Mr. Dugan has been presented in chamber music recitals by Carnegie Hall, Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, Music at Menlo, Moab Music Festival, and recently in recital with Joshua Bell at the Minnesota Beethoven Festival.  He was the 2019 featured recitalist for the California Association of Professional Music Teachers, and has soloed with the San Francisco Symphony, Houston Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, New World Symphony, and Mid-Texas Symphony.

His album with baritone John Brancy –  A Silent Night: A WWI Memorial in Song – pays homage to composers who lived through, fought in, and died in the Great War. Brancy and Dugan toured this program across North America in commemoration of the centennial of WWI, including performances at The Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall, Stanford University, the United States Naval Academy, and the Smithsonian Institute.  Together Brancy and Dugan won first prize at the 2018 Montreal International Music Competition and second prize at the 2017 Wigmore Hall International Song Competition. He can also be heard as the piano soloist on a recording of Ives’ Fourth Symphony from Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, a recording which the New York Times named one of the top classical albums of 2019. 

Mr. Dugan advocates the importance of music in the community and at all levels of society.  As a founding creator of Operation Superpower, a superhero opera for children, he has traveled to dozens of schools in the greater New York area, performing for students and encouraging them to use their talents – their superpowers – for good.

Mr. Dugan holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, where he studied under Matti Raekallio. He was a recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s Young Scholar, College Scholar, and Graduate Scholar awards.

He resides in New York City with his wife, mezzo-soprano Kara Dugan, and serves on the piano faculty at the Juilliard School Evening Division. Mr. Dugan is a Yamaha Artist.