Pablo Casals

Born Vendrell, Spain

Born in Catalonia, Pau Casals was the twentieth century’s foremost cellist and a spokesman for democracy and peace. The son of a musician, Casals studied cello, piano, and composition in Barcelona and started touring in 1900. By age thirty he had performed extensively throughout Europe, Russia, and the Americas. Back in Catalonia in the 1930s, he recorded his signature J. S. Bach Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, lifting them from the mere status of studies to that of masterpieces. With the victory of Francisco Franco’s regime after the Spanish Civil War (1936–39), Casals went into exile. He served in refugee relief efforts during World War II and advocated in the 1950s for the end of atomic weapons testing. From 1955 until his death he lived in Puerto Rico, where he founded the Festival Pablo Casals of classical music, which endures.

Known for his experimentalism in printmaking and his progressive politics, Antonio Frasconi made numerous portraits of social justice leaders and musicians through his career.