The final audition of the Pablo Casals International Award for Young Cellists was held on 26th November 2018 in the Municipal School of Music Auditorium in El Vendrell. This year’s jury was made up of internationally renowned cellists such as Marc Coppey, Alban Gerhardt, Frans Helmerson and Arnau Tomàs, winner of the Award in 1991. Marta Casals, Pablo Casals’ widow, presided over the jury.
Carla Conangla (1997, Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona). She studies at the Conservatorium Maastrich (Holland) with Professor Gustav Rivinius, where she will continue her studies from 2018 to 2019. She has mastered with teachers such as Jean-Guihen Queyras, Gary Hoffman, Maria Kliegel, Roel Dieltiens, Christoph Richter, Emilio Colon, Lluís Claret, among others. Recently she has taken part in important international competitions, such as the Knopf Berlin Competition 2018 and the Prague Spring Competition 2018, and has performed with the Maastricht Conservatorium Chamber Orchestra conducted by Johannes Leertouwer. She has received several scholarships and awards in Spain, and has attended several music festivals, including the Artium Forum in Osnabrück (2015) or the Fourvière International Music Academy in Lyon (2015). Since 2012 she has been principal cellist of the National Youth Orchestra of Catalonia (JONC) under Manel Valdivieso, Josep Pons and Gordan Nikolic.