Lluis Claret Cello Masterclass

Lluis Claret, faculty member and String Department Chair at NEC, presents a masterclass featuring students from the NEC cello studios.

Born in Andorra, Spain in 1951, from exiled catalan parents, Lluís Claret began his musical studies at the age of 9. His musical future would be strongly marked by his contact with great teachers such as Maurice Gendron, Radu Aldulescu and Enric Casals (Pablo Casals brother) who, though not a cellist, would be his principal musical adviser for many years. His meetings with György Sebök, Eva Janzer and Bernard Greenhouse were also to be decisive for the development of his artistic personality.

First Prizes at the Casals (1976) and Rostropovitch (1977) Competitions helped to project an international career to the principal capitals of Europe, America and Asia. He received invitations from The Washington National Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, English Chamber Orchestra, France National Orchestra, as well as others in cities such as Tokyo, Seoul, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Bamberg, Moscow, Madrid, Barcelona, and has played under the baton of Vaclav Neuman, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Pierre Boulez, Karl Münchinger, Dimitri Kitaienko, Sakari Oramo and Georges Malcom among others.

Chamber music and pedagogy are an important and essential part of Lluís Claret’s professional activity. He founded the Barcelona Trio (1980-1993,) performs regularly with the pianists Josep-Maria Colom and Benedicte Palko and collaborates very often with other prestigious musicians at Festivals like Kuhmo, Naantali, Ernen, l’Epau, Pablo Casals (Prades,) Granada, Seoul. He teaches at the “Victoria dels Angels” School of Music at Sant Cugat (Barcelona,) the Liceu Conservatory (Barcelona,) the Toulouse Conservatory (France,) and gives master classes in France, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, USA, Japan and Korea. Together with Bernard Greenhouse he conducts a seminar at the Abbey of Fontfroide (France.)

Lluís Claret has regularly served as a jury member of international competitions including Rostropovitch-Paris, Paulo-Helsinki, Pablo Casals-Kronberg, and Adam- New Zealand. His great interest in contemporary music has brought him in close professional collaboration with Henri Dutilleux, Witold Lutoslawski, Kristoff Penderecki, Joan Guinjoan, Iannis Xenakis and Pierre Boulez.