Solo (music)

In music, a solo (Italian for 'alone') is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung featuring a single performer, who may be performing completely alone or supported by an accompanying instrument such as a piano or organ, a continuo group (in Baroque music), or the rest of a choir, orchestra, band, or other ensemble. Performing a solo is "to solo", and the performer is known as a soloist. The plural is soli or the anglicised form solos. In some contexts these are interchangeable, but soli tends to be restricted to classical music and mostly either the solo performers or the solo passages in a single piece.