Pablo Ferrández-Castro

ICMA 2016 “Young Artist of the Year”, and prize-winner at the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition and at the V Paulo International Cello Competition, Pablo Ferrández announces himself as a musician of stature. His emotional intensity and personality on stage have wowed audiences around the globe.

Praised by his authenticity and hailed by the critics as “one of the top cellists” (Rémy Louis, Diapason Magazine), the 25-year-old Pablo Ferrández continues building a brilliant career through collaborations with international renowned artists and world leading orchestras.

He has appeared as a soloist with the Mariinsky Orchestra, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Kremerata Baltica, Helsinki Philharmonic, Spanish National Orchestra, RTVE Orchestra, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and collaborated with such artists as Zubin Mehta, Valery Gergiev, Yuri Temirkanov, Adam Fischer, Heinrich Schiff, Dennis Russell Davies, John Storgårds, Gidon Kremer, Ivry Gitlis and Anne-Sophie Mutter.

An avid chamber musician, Pablo is frequently invited to international festivals such as Verbier, Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, Intonations Festival, La Folle Journée, Casals, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Spivakov, Piatigorsky, Kronberg, Santander, and the Rheingau Music Festival, where Mr. Ferrández was awarded with the Music Festival Award 2015. Ferrández has recently appeared in recital at the Louvre Museum in Paris, at the Palau de la Música de Barcelona, and at the Auditorio Nacional de Música de Madrid, obtaining rave reviews.

A captivating performer with a compelling technique, he is described as “an inspirational and expressive soloist who always places his skills at the service of the composer.” “Personal vanity is alien to Ferrández” (Rheingau Festival Award Jury).

Pablo Ferrández recorded his first CD, featuring Dvorak and Schumann cello concertos, with the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Radoslaw Szulc, which was received with great acclaim: “Pablo Ferrández is a fine performer, with a warm tone and an impulsive, if refined, lyricism that makes him a natural interpreter for Schumann's concerto, with its melancholic elegance and flashes of mercurial wit.” (Tim Ashley, The Guardian), “It is in Dvorak that Ferrández announces himself as a cellist of stature” “(he) manages to play with huge emotion while still keeping his interpretation light and free from overindulgence” (Janet Banks, The Strad).

Ferrández is proud of his long-standing artistic friendship with Gidon Kremer, one of his major supporters. Pablo’s second recording featured Italian works by Rossini and Menotti with the Kremerata Baltica, conducted by Heinrich Schiff.

Highlights of the 2016/17 season include his debut at the Berliner Philharmonie with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the appearance with BBC Philharmonic under Juanjo Mena, collaborations with Christoph Eschenbach playing Schumann’s cello concerto with the HR-Sinfonieorchester and the Spanish National Symphony, the return to Maggio Musicale Fiorentino under Zubin Mehta, recitals at Schloss Elmau and the Mariinsky Theater, a European tour with Kremerata Baltica and Gidon Kremer, appearances at the Verbier Festival, Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, Trans-Siberian Arts Festival, Intonations Festival, and International Music Festival of the Canary Islands, debuts with Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale RAI, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Munich Symphony, Estonian National Symphony, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, and the performance of Brahms' double concerto with Anne-Sophie Mutter and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Born in Madrid in 1991, in a family of musicians, Pablo Ferrández joined the prestigious Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía when he was 13 to study with Natalia Shakhovskaya. After that he completed his studies at the Kronberg Academy with Frans Helmerson.

Mr. Ferrández plays the Stradivarius “Lord Aylesford” (1696) thanks to the Nippon Music Foundation.