Aria Forte Stand Light

I use my iPad for most of my cello music so far, but I have a paper copy of Suzuki Cello School, Volume 1. Music on paper is often hard for me to read because the lighting is not bright in the room I practice in at home or in the room where I take lessons at New School of Music.

I was in quest of a good stand light, but I hadn’t picked anything out yet. Then I listened to the Crushing Classical podcast episode of September 3, 2026, in which host Jennet Ingle interviewed Peter Hildebrandt, a bassist and cellist who is also a serial entrepreneur and founder of Aria Lights.

This sounded like the ideal solution. I bought the Aria Forte model, a rechargeable light that costs $220. Shipping was free.

Aria Forte Stand Light

So far, I have found this stand light excellent. I have copied the full descripton here:

Read music for over 8 hours on full brightness and 36 hours on half brightness. Perfect for gigging indoors or out, stages, pits, or chamber music, the Aria Forte delivers bright, consistent light across a full-sized part up to 4 pages wide. A full-range dimmer lets you match the light level to the environment and conserve battery power. Forte maintains constant brightness right to the end of the charge. An LED blinks to indicate how much charge is left and provide low battery warnings. Forte can be used on wall power up to 9 feet from an outlet. Rapid USB recharge provides fast turnaround between events, and can charge during use. A second side charging port allows bulk charging in stacks or a road case. Includes a 120-240V USB charger, a nine-foot (2.75 m) cord, and a replaceable high-power lithium polymer (LiPO) battery. One-year warranty. 4 watts. Model F2.

Carrying the stand light to my lessons is a problem I’m working on. I usually walk to my lessons. A shortcoming of the BAM backpack that I ordered with my BAM cello case is that its carrying capacity is extremely small, limited to sheet music, an iPad, and pencils. The stand light does not fit in the BAM backpack.

So I also bought the Soft Carrying Bag for $30. I have very carefully tested carrying the stand light in its bag inside my cello case. It just barely fits, as shown in the photo below, but it doesn’t move around when I carry my cello.

Stand Light in Cello Case

Another option is to carry the bag by hand, but I prefer to keep both hands free when I walk to my lessons. I will experiment to see what works best.