The final audition of the Pablo Casals International Award 2022 took place last Saturday November 16th in the auditorium of the Tívoli of the Escola Municipal de Música Pau Casals del Vendrell (EMMPAC). The jury was made up of internationally renowned cellists Ophélie Gaillard, Danjulo Ishizaka, Marie-Elisabeth Hecker and Arnau Tomàs. Bernard Meillat, musical advisor of the Foundation, acted as secretary of the jury.
Yo Kitamura (Japan, 2004) began playing the cello at the age of four.
He studied with Professor Jens Peter Maintz at the University of the Arts in Berlin and with Professor Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi at the Toho Gakuen College of Music. He won the First Prize and the Special Prize at the 29th Johannes Brahms International Competition, as well as the First Prize and five special prizes at the 92nd Japan Music Competition, the most prestigious in Japan, in 2023. He won the unanimous First Prize at the 10th Tchaikovsky International Competition for Young Musicians in 2017 and the Second Prize at the Khachaturian International Competition in 2022. In September 2024, he was awarded the First Prize at the George Enescu International Competition.
He made his orchestral debut at the age of nine and his recital debut at ten. He has attended masterclasses with Steven Isserlis, Jens-Peter Maintz, Mischa Maisky, Philippe Muller, and Wolfgang Boettcher.