Breaking News – Cellist Yo Kitamura wins First Prize in the Pablo Casals International Award!

Late at night (Japan time) on November 16, 2024, Yo Kitamura (20), a cellist on Japan Arts’ roster, won First Prize at the Pablo Casals International Award, held in El Vendrell (Tarragona), Spain. (Arne Zeller of Germany also won First Prize.)

The Pablo Casals International Award, presented by the Pau Casals Foundation, has been held once every two years since 2018. This international competition is held in the birthplace of Pablo Casals, El Vendrell in Catalonia, Spain. The Award’s 40-year history began in 1984. First created as a scholarship award, it subsequently became an international competition.

Twenty-year-old cellist Yo Kitamura was born in Hyogo Prefecture in 2004. He has studied with Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and Nobuko Yamazaki. In September 2024, he received a great deal of attention when he became the first Japanese ever to win the cello division of the Georges Enescu International Competition. Kitamura won first prize in the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in 2017 and second prize in the 2022 Khachaturian International Competition. His impressive achievements continued in 2023, when he won both the International Johannes Brahms Competition and the Music Competition of Japan (cello division). Kitamura is currently a student in the Soloist Diploma Course at Toho Gakuen School of Music. Since 2023 he has studied with Jens-Peter Maintz at the Berlin University of the Arts.

In the final round of the competition, Kitamura performed the Prelude, Sarabande and Gigue from Bach’s unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 3, and Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, receiving a high evaluation for his abundant musicality and future promise. Kitamura plays a 1668 “Cassini” cello, on loan from Ueno Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

Yo Kitamura’s comment
I am truly grateful to have received this prize in Catalonia, the birthplace of Pablo Casals. Casals survived various circumstances with an enduring love for his homeland and a wish for peace, and I sincerely admire him not only as a musician, but also as an individual human being who continually sought freedom of spirit. The unaccompanied cello suites, which I listened to with my grandfather every day as a child, are my own starting point. I have a dream of helping to bring peace to the world through music. I plan to continue working with dedication in order to proceed even one step towards this great hope.

Please continue to follow Yo Kitamura’s activities.

◇ Pablo Casals International Award
　⇒ https://www.paucasals.org/en/
◇Yo Kitamura photo and profile
　⇒ https://www.japanarts.co.jp/en/artist/yokitamura/

In Japan, a recital is scheduled on Wednesday, December 11, at Hakuju Hall. With a program consisting of Beethoven Sonata No. 4, Brahms Sonata No. 2, Janáček “Pohádka,” and Shostakovich Cello Sonata, Yo Kitamura’s performance is highly anticipated.