ARNAU TOMÀS
Arnau Tomás Realp, cello
Anau Tomás Realp was born in Barcelona in 1973 and began his musical studies at the age of six. From 1990 through 1994, he studied in Holland at the Utrecht Conservatory with Elias Arizcuren, after which he studied with Ivan Monighetti at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia and the Musikakademie der Stadt Basel, and finally, with Frans Helmerson in Cologne at the Hochschule für Musik Köln.
Arnau won First Prize at the competitions Germans Claret (1990), City of Manresa (1996,) and Juventudes Musicales de España (1996.) Additionally, he won Second Prize at the Jonge Talenten de Holand competition in 1991 and was selected in 1992 by the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam to participate in a nationally televised master class with Yo Yo Ma.
Arnau has been invited to serve as Guest Principal Cellist in orchestras including the RNE in Madrid and the Symphony Orchestra of Galicia, and has performed with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the European Community Chamber Orchestra and the Conjunto Ibérico de Violonchelos. In addition to numerous recitals, he has performed as soloist with the London Schools Symphony, the Orquestra Filarmonia de Cambra de Barcelona, the Orquesta de Radiotelevisión Española and the Symphony Orchestra of Barcelona and Catalunya. Arnau has also recorded a CD of works for cello solo by Bach, Cassadó and Kôdaly.
As a founding member of Cuarteto Casals, he has performed in the most important halls throughout Europe, North America, Latin America and Japan. The quartet records exclusively for the Harmonia Mundi label, where Arnau can be heard in renditions of quartets by Arriaga, Debussy, Zemlinsky, Mozart, Ravel, Toldrá, Turina and Brahms. Arnau is currently Professor of Cello and Chamber Music at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya.