On May 17th the inscriptions for the Pablo Casals International Award for Young Cellists 2022 were closed. The jury, formed by internationally renowned personalities such as Jérôme Pernoo, Peter Thiemann, Erica Wise and also by Bernard Meillat, artistic advisor of the Pau Casals Foundation and secretary of the jury, has deliberated and selected eight finalists.
The Pablo Casals International Award for Young Cellists is open to applicants from all over the world, and this year the competition has received applications from cellists with a very high artistic and technical level. The eight young cello students chosen are up to 22 years of age and come from countries such as Canada, China, Scotland, the United States, Germany and Spain, a fact that reaffirms the commitment of the Pablo Casals Foundation to support young cellists with the aim of spreading the artistic and human legacy of Pablo Casals around the world.
Apart from the financial endowment of the three prizes of the Award – the finalists aspire to a first prize of 18,000 €, a special AENA prize of 12,000 € and a third prize of 6,000 € -, the Pablo Casals Foundation will offer artistic promotion and professional advice to the winners.
The final audition will take place at the Tivoli Auditorium of the Pablo Casals Municipal School of Music in El Vendrell on Friday, November 18, 2022. The members of the jury for the final audition will be cellists Henri Demarquette, Marie Hallynck, Asier Polo, Julian Steckel and Bernard Meillat, musical advisor of the Pau Casals Foundation and secretary of the jury.
Luka Coetzee
Acclaimed by the Fanfare Magazine as “tonally, technically, and musically superb”, Canadian cellist Luka Coetzee (b. 2004) made her solo debut at age eleven with the Calgary Civic Symphony. Most recently in September 2022 she received the Frans Helmerson Promotional Award at the Kronberg Academy as well as performed as soloist with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. In October 2022 she received second prize as well as the special prize of the jury at the 8th Dotzauer International Competition for Young Cellists. In the same month, Luka performed with the National Philharmonic Orchestra as a winner of the 9th Johansen International Strings Competition in Washington, DC. As a member of the LGT Young Soloists, Luka recorded and premiered a new arrangement of the Beethoven A major Cello Sonata on NAXOS at the Teldex Studio in Berlin. She is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree in cello performance at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt.
Jizheng Fang
Student of the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Germany. Born in Jiangsu (China) in 2005. He has performed and participated in Masterclasses internationally. He has participated in several renowned competitions, such as the 12th Safshenky International Music Competition (2021, first place) or the International Klaipeda Cello Competition (2019, second place). He is currently studying at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Germany with Professor Claudio Bohorquez.
Alejandro Gómez Pareja
Student at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía (Madrid, Spain). Born in Madrid in 2002. He has been invited to play at several international festivals, such as the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the University of Brunswick in Maine and the Pablo Casals Festival in Prades. He has won first prizes in several international competitions: Villa de Llanes Competition (2018), Ribeira Sacra Competition (2020), Appassionato Joël Klepal Competition in Caen (2021), as well as second prize at the Gustav Mahler Cello Competition in Prague (2021). He is currently studying at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía with Jens Peter Maintz and Fernando Arias.
Amy Goto
Born in South Carolina (United States) in 2004, with Japanese and American nationality. She has performed several times at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris and at other international events, such as the Schloss Elmau in Germany. She has also participated in numerous awards such as the IX International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians (2015), where she won the Hope Award, the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Youth Concerto Competition (2016), where she won the second prize, being the youngest winner in the history of the award, and the Class de Excellence de Violoncelle de Gautier Capuçon of the Fondation Louis Vuitton (2020). Since 2014, she has been training at home. Currently with Professor Philippe Muller.
Thomas Haas
Student at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg (Germany). Born in Bernkastel-Kues (Germany) in 2002. He started playing the cello at the age of 6 and has been awarded several first prizes at the national youth competition “Jugend musiziert”. In 2016 and 2019 he won the national first prize in the category “Solo cello” and in 2017 in the category “String duo”. In addition, he has received special awards from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben and the Berthold Hummel Stiftung. In 2018, he made his solo debut with Dvořák’s Cello Concerto. Since then, he has performed the cello concertos of Saint-Saens and Friedrich Gulda, as well as Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations, and has worked with several conductors such as Joseph Bastien. He is currently studying at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg with Professor Sebastian Klinger.
Finn Mannion
Student at the Hochschule für Musik in Basel (Switzerland). Born in 2002, of Irish and Scottish nationality. He has participated in numerous recitals and Masterclasses internationally, such as the Hellensmusic Festival or a Scandinavian tour sponsored by the New York Times. It is worth noting that he was awarded by the Royal Philharmonic Society (2019, being the youngest awardee), he also received the Beatrice Huntington Award (2020) and the Student Award of the LYRA Stiftung in Zurich (2022). He is currently studying at the Hochschule für Musik in Basel with Danjulo Ishizaka.
Carlos Vidal Ballester
Student at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (France). Born in Valencia in 2004. In 2019 he won the first prize at the Dotzauer Award in Dresden, Germany. In 2021 he won second prize at the Johannes Brahms International Competition in Porstchach, Austria, and this 2022 he won first prize at the “Juventudes musicales” competition in Spain, which led him to begin a performance tour. He has received master classes from maestros such as Peter Bruns, Claudio Bohórquez, Danjulo Ishizaka, Gary Hoffmann, Miklos Perenyi and Xavier Gagnepain. He is currently studying at the CNSMDP in Paris with Professor Jérôme Pernoo.
Michael Wehrmeyer
Student at the Hochschule für Musik FRANZ LISZT in Weimar (Germany). Born in Berlin in 2002 in a family of musicians, he started studying the cello at the age of 4. Since 2021 he is enjoying a scholarship of the International Music Academy of Liechtenstein. His notable successes include the semi-finals of the International Penderecki Competition in Krakow and multiple first prizes at the national award “Jugend musiziert” in 2014 and 2019. He was also awarded the music prize of the city of Regensburg in 2019. He is currently studying at the Hochschule für Musik Frank Liszt in Weimar with Professor Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt.
