Pablo Casals Festival, July 30th - August 13th 2021
Each year, the Pablo Casals Festival, a chamber music festival, takes place in the Pyrénées Orientales.
The birth of the festival
Pablo Casals was a Catalan cellist, composer and conductor, 1876 - 1973. During the Resistance against Franco, Pablo Casals refused to play any more until Spain was freed from Franco's dictatorship. He went into exile and took refuge in Prades, a small village in the south of France, in the Pyrénées Orientales. He categorically refused all proposals to perform.
"You cannot condemn your art to silence. Since you don't want to leave Prades, would you allow us to come here, a group of musicians, and celebrate the bicentenary of Bach's death?"
Pianist Mieczyslaw Horszowski contacted Casals through violinist Alexander Schneider and Casals accepted. The first festival took place in 1950.
Gautier Capuçon
Gaautier Capuçon ismong the artists performing at the festival in 2021! He will play on August 6, at Saint Michel de Cuxa Abbey. Gautier Capuçon started playing the cello at 5 years old and received many first prizes at international competitions. He is the founder and artistic director of the Cello Excellence Class of the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris. He will play accompanied by the orchestra conducted by Josep Pons the Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor op. 33 by C. SAINT-SAËNS.
The 2021 program;
The Pablo Casals festival will take place from July 30 to August 13, 2021.