Joint first prize went to Yo Kitamura and Arne Zeller following the final audition round on 16 November 2024
The Pau Casals Foundation has announced the results of its 2024 Pablo Casals International Award, following the final audition round held on Saturday 16 November, at Pau Casals Municipal School of Music in El Vendrell .
This year’s edition received 65 video applications from young cellists under the age of 21 from around the world, from which seven finalists were selected for Saturday’s final audition.
The total prize pool equalled €36,000, with first prize worth €18,000, the Special AENA prize worth €12,000 and third prize worth €6,000. The financial prizes are awarded with the aim to held talented young cellists further their musical studies.
Joint first prize was given to Yo Kitamura (Japan) and Arne Zeller (Germany). A student at the Berlin University of the Arts with Jens Peter Maintz, Kitamura recently won first prize at the 2024 George Enescu International Competition. In 2023, he won first prize and special prize at the 29th International Johannes Brahms Competition.
Zeller studies at the Kronberg Academy with Frans Helmerson and at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University of Music and Theater in Leipzig with Peter Bruns. He won first prize at the 2022 Gustav Mahler Cello Competition and second prize at the 2023 International Brahms Competition in Pörtschach.
Luís Dias Canali (Italy/Portugal) and Gabriel Guignier (France) both received the Special AENA prize, while Ruoxi Jing (China) received third prize.
Yewon Cho (South Korea) and Klaudio Zoto (Albania) received honourable mentions from the jury, which comprised Ophélie Gaillard, Danjulo Ishizaka, Arnau Tomàs and Bernard Meillat, music advisor of the Pau Casals Foundation, who also acted as jury secretary. Cellists Peter Thiemann, Erica Wise, Victor Julien-Laferrière and Bernard Meillat were the jury members who selected the finalists.
In addition to the financial prizes, the laureates will have the opportunity to take part in concerts organised by the Pau Casals Foundation and will receive professional and artistic career development advice.
Established in 1984, the award has since supported more than fifty young cellists to become part of an important network of ambassadors for the living musical legacy of Pablo Casals. Recent winners include Luka Coetzee in 2022 and Xuanhan Xu in 2020.
Read: Pablo Casals and the Bach Cello Suites: Journey to a masterpiece
Read: György Pauk, distinguished Hungarian violinist and pedagogue, has died
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