Honoring Pau Casals: A cello recital with Alejandro Gómez

Spanish cellist Alejandro Gómez, ex-aequo winner of the AENA Special Prize at the 2022 Pau Casals International Award, offers a piano-cello recital at the Former Residence of the Ambassadors of Spain to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Pau Casals’ death.

Pablo Casals (El Vendrell, 1876 – San Juan de Puerto Rico, 1973) was one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Cellist, conductor, composer, humanist and staunch fighter for freedom and democracy, his legacy makes him one of the most widely recognized names in music and peace.

2023 marks the 50th Anniversary of his death, and together with the Pau Casals Foundations, the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain in Washington, D.C. has organized a concert with last year’s winner of the AENA Special Prize of the 2022 Pau Casals International Award.

Program

• Leos Janácek (1854-1928): Pohádka: I. Con moto – Andante, II. Con moto – Adagio, III. Allegro
• Sergey Prokofiev (1891-1953): Sonata for violoncello and piano Op. 119: I. Andante grave, II. Moderato, III. Allegro, ma non troppo
• Alexandre Tansman (1897-1986): Fantaisie for violoncello and piano

About the artists

Alejandro Gomez Pareja

Spanish cellist Alejandro Gomez Pareja started playing the cello at the tender age of four years old. He has has performed as a soloist with National Youth Symphony Orchestra of Catalonia, Andrés Segovia Chamber Orchestra and Dreamers Orchestra, under the batons of Manel Valdivieso, Victor Ambroa and Ramon Torrelledo in Chamber Hall and Symphony Hall at Madrid’s National Auditorium.

In 2022 he was invited by Auditori of Barcelona to perform Shostakovitch’s first cello concerto with Orquesta Sinfonica de Barcelona and Nacional de Catalunya conducted by Alondra de la Parra. At the end of the same year, he got the chance to perform the same concerto with the Orchestre de Caen conducted by Nicolas Simon.

Second prize winner of the Pau Casals International Cello competition, Gomez Pareja is a devoted chamber musician, having collaborated with musicians like David Afkham, Marta Gulyás, Alena Baeva or Marc Coppey. During his participation in international festivals such as Mozarteum in Salzburg, Brunswick University in Maine and Pau Casals Festival in Prades, he has worked with professors such as Maria Kliegel, Orfeo Mandozzi, Danjulo Ishizaka, Torleif Thedeen and Frans Helmerson. He was to play as part of the Pau Casals Festival in El Vendrell (Tarragona) and at the Villers sur Mer Festival in Normandy in the Summer of 2022.

Highlights of the upcoming season include debut with the Royal Seville Symphony Orchestra, two recital concerts in Washington D.C., chamber concert at Sociedad Filarmónica de Burgos and participating at ICEP with Midori Goto. Gomez Pareja is currently an undergraduate student at Escuela Reina Sofia in Madrid in which he studies with Jens Peter Maintz.

GaYoung Lee

GaYoung Lee, a native of Seoul, South Korea, completed a Master of Music Degree in Piano Performance at George Mason University as a piano student of Dr. Linda Apple Monson, Director of School of Music. She earned a Bachelor of Music Degree in Piano Performance from the Catholic University of Korea and pursued additional studies at the Ewha Womans Graduate School of Music in Seoul.

GaYoung Lee began piano studies at the age of three in her native Korea. She won First prize from The Piano Society of Korea and was the Second place winner in both the Young Artist Piano Concours and Brahms Concours. In addition, she participated in numerous master classes for such artists as Simone Dinnerstein, Philipp Vogker, Yonghee Chun, and Barry Snyder and music festivals held in Saint Petersburg Conservatory, Russia, and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow, New England.

GaYoung Lee performed as pianist for Mason’s opera productions and accompanied many voice studios at George Mason University. She is a recipient of the College of Visual and Performing Arts Scholarship Award and the School of Music Foundation Award. GaYoung Lee was also selected as a featured piano soloist of the Mason Honors Recital, Grand Piano Celebration, and Arts by George in 2018 and 2019.