Acello concerto (sometimes called avioloncello concerto) is aconcerto for solocello withorchestra or, very occasionally, smaller groups of instruments.

These pieces have been written since theBaroque era if not earlier. However, unlike instruments such as the violin, the cello had to face harsh competition from the older, well-establishedviola da gamba. As a result, few important cello concertos were written before the 19th century – with the notable exceptions of those byVivaldi,C.P.E. Bach,Haydn andBoccherini. Its full recognition as a solo instrument came during theRomantic era with the concertos ofSchumann,Saint-Saëns,Lalo andDvořák. From then on, cello concertos have become more and more frequent. Twentieth-century composers have made the cello a standard concerto instrument, along with the already-rooted piano and violin concertos; among the most notable concertos of the first half of the century are those ofElgar,Prokofiev,Barber andHindemith. Many post-World War II composers (Shostakovich,Walton,Ligeti,Britten,Dutilleux,Lutoslawski andPenderecki among others) have written at least one.

One special consideration composers must take with the cello (as well as all instruments with a low range) is with the issue of projection. Unlike instruments like the violin, whose high range projects fairly easily above the orchestra, the cello's lower notes can be easily lost when the cello is not playing a solo or near solo. Because of this, composers have had to deliberately pare down the orchestral component of cello concertos while the cello is playing in the lowerregisters.

Cello concertos near the center of the "repertoire". The original list of cello concertos has been moved toList of compositions for cello and orchestra.

• Cello sonata
• List of compositions for cello and orchestra

• Cellos
• Cello concertos

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata