Eptazar Select Concert No. 70 Luis Claret ~The Heart of Catalonia

Inheriting the love of music and peace of his godfather Pablo Casals, who is also known as the god of cello, the mature cellist Luis Claret is the pride of Catalonia, and performed "Song of the Birds" with a soprano singer at the closing ceremony of the Barcelona Olympics.
In the first half of the concert, he will perform solo, and in the second half, he and the up-and-coming pianist Masaru Okada, with whom he has collaborated many times, will weave together works by Catalan composers.

The program will start with "Suite" written by Enric Casals, the younger brother of Pablo Casals, who is said to have continued to support his brother as an excellent violinist, conductor, and composer. Enric Casals was a teacher who gave Claret a thorough musical education, and he has a special attachment to him.

The first half of the concert will feature the "Suite for Unaccompanied Cello" by Gaspar Casado, a great cellist of the 20th century who was trained by Casals and left behind a masterpiece that is said to evoke the sentiments of Catalonia, followed by the "Sonata in the Spanish Classical Style," "Partita" and "Dear Word" in the second half. The second half will feature the Sonata in the Spanish Classical Style, the Partita and the Dear Words.

The first piece of the second half, "Bridge ~ for cello and piano," is a romantic piano piece (unpublished before his death) that Montpau wrote "in memory of our first walk" and dedicated to his lover who later became his wife, and was arranged for cello and piano at the request of the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science on the 100th anniversary of Casals' birth.

We hope you will enjoy the unique music of Luis Claret and the heart of Catalonia.