All-Cello Orchestra

56 cellists celebrate Pablo Casals

We celebrate the legacy of the legendary cellist Pablo Casals and his musical connections to Boston and Puerto Rico. In October 1901 Casals began performing Bach’s solo cello suites in public, the catalyst for their popularity with audiences today. On November 26, 1901 Casals made his Boston debut at the Colonial Theatre as part of his first U.S. tour with soprano Emma Nevada.

Celebrating the tradition of mass cello choir performances at Puerto Rico’s beloved Casals Festivals, an orchestra of 56 cellists – drawn from students and faculty at Berklee College of Music, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Boston University, Longy School of Music, New England Conservatory, and 14 professional organizations – share the stage for the first time in the magnificent Virginia Wimberley Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts in the South End.

The program includes Spanish Sardanas by Pablo Casals and Puerto Rican folksong arrangements by Aristides Rivas, accompanied by Jorge and Gabriel Arce on percussion.

Lluis Claret, solo cello

Eugene Friesen and Aristides Rivas, conductors

Jorge and Gabriel Arce, bombas

A Boston Tribute to Pablo Casals is generously supported by an anonymous donor. Additional support for this project is provided by Nancy & Richard Lubin.

Thank you to our supporters!

Celebrity Series of Boston is grateful to our 2019-20 Season Sponsors Amy & Joshua Boger, and to the many individual donors whose generosity supports Neighborhood Arts. Celebrity Series is also grateful to the following corporations, foundations, and government agencies for their support in the 2019-20 season: 

Stephanie L. Brown Foundation

Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation

Bessie Pappas Charitable Foundation

Stifler Family Foundation 

Anonymous

Neighborhood Arts is also made possible by support from the LIVE PERFORMANCE! Arts for All Endowment & Innovation Funds of the Celebrity Series of Boston.