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.
Lluc Pascual Sarret was born in 1998 in Térmens (Lleida). He began his musical studies at the age of nine with the cello and at the age of thirteen with the piano. He is currently studying for a Higher Degree at the Conservatorium Maastricht with Professor Gustav Rivinius. He has received master classes from professors such as Alexander Chaushian, Laurentiu Sbarcea, Matthijs Broersma, Fernando Arias, Reinhard Latzko, Gabriel Schwabe. He has been a member of the Jove Orquestra Nacional de Catalunya. He has also won competitions and prizes such as the Second BBVA Prize for Music for Individual Talent, where he also won an honorable mention for the best performance of a work by a Catalan author. He has recently been awarded an Honorable Mention at the Pablo Casals International Award for Young Cellists 2018. He has played in venues and auditoriums in Catalonia, Spain, Austria, the Netherlands, France and Germany.