In this recital, the young German cellist Arne Jesper Zeller, winner of the First Prize ex aequo of the 2024 Pablo Casals International Award, will perform three great works for cello and piano. The program includes Beethoven’s Cello Sonata No. 1, Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, and the Sonata for Cello and Piano by Francis Poulenc, featuring a repertoire that stands out for its expressiveness and emotional variety, combining moments of lyricism and passion.
He will be accompanied on the piano by the young Catalan pianist Pau Vendrell.
This recital is part of a brief tour across Catalonia thanks to the collaboration between the Pablo Casals Foundation and Federació de Joventuts Musicals de Catalunya.
Arne Zeller, cello
Arne Zeller (born October 4, 2006) began playing the cello at the age of six and entered Peter Bruns’ pre-college class at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Leipzig. Since October 2024, he has been studying with Frans Helmerson at the Kronberg Academy. He has received additional artistic inspiration through regular masterclasses with J. P. Maintz, I. Monighetti, H. J. Jensen, G. Hoffmann, S. Isserlis, and Sir A. Schiff.
Since the age of 12, he has obtained numerous prizes and recognitions, notably the second prize at the 2023 International Brahms Competition (Pörtschach) and the first prize ex aequo of the 2024 Pablo Casals International Award for Young Cellists. Other important awards include the Werner Stiefel Prize 2022, the Martin Stadtfeld Prize 2023, the Jütting Scholarship 2023, and the Pergamenschikow Scholarship 2024 from the Kronberg Academy.
Zeller made his debut as an orchestral soloist with Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations at age 13, and since then has performed with the Baden-Baden Philharmonics, the Euro Symphony Orchestra, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Kremerata Baltica.
In 2022 and 2024, he participated in the Kronberg Academy cello masterclasses, where he was also selected as a junior for the “Chamber Music Connects the World” program in 2024. He has gained valuable experience in chamber music, with public performances in international classes such as the Geneva String Academy, the Moritzburg Festival, the Con Spirito Festival Leipzig, and the Verbier Festival 2024. He has also performed as a soloist at the Rheingau Musikfestival and the Heidelberger Frühling.
Arne Zeller is a fellow of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, the International Music Academy Liechtenstein, and the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes. He plays an 1850 Charles Maucotel “ex-Tortelier,” generously on loan from a member of the Stretton Society.
Pau Vendrell, piano
Pau Vendrell, born in Vic in 2001, began his piano studies at the School of Music and Conservatory of Vic with Joan Ribé. In 2017, after completing his professional degree, he entered Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, where he received lessons from Marta Karbownicka. In 2023, he completed his piano degree at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where he studied with Noriko Ogawa, and is continuing his studies at ESMUC with Vladislav Bronevetzky.
Throughout his career, he has performed as a soloist and in chamber ensembles in Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Germany, and has received guidance from great pianists such as Cristian Blackshaw and Boris Berman.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
Cello Sonata No. 1, Op. 5,1
I. Adagio sostenuto – Allegro
II. Rondo – Allegro vivace
Robert Schumann (1810 – 1856)
Fantasiestücke, Op. 73
I. Zart und mit Ausdruck
II. Lebhaft, leicht
III. Rasch und mit Feuer
Francis Poulenc (1899 – 1963)
Cello Sonata, FP 143
I. Allegro
II. Cavatine
III. Ballabile
IV. Finale