Just like István Várdai, the Spanish cellist also plays a Stradivarius - courtesy of the Nippon Music Foundation. The hearts of Hungarian music listeners will leap when they hear the sound of this particular instrument: it is the same one that János Starker played for many years! And before them, it was in the possession of no lesser an artist than Gregor Piatigorsky... In any case, it is not only Eschenbach who is impressed with Pablo Ferrández's accomplishments. The great violinist Anne Sophie... Mutter, discovered by Herbert von Karajan years ago, said, 'He is truly remarkable. With an enormous sound, an extraordinarily refined vibrato and immaculate left- and right-hand technique - he is an authentic musician.'
As part of the European Concert Hall Organisation's Rising Stars concert series, now successfully running for nearly a quarter of a century, young musicians visit the continent's major concert halls in order to introduce themselves to the audience. Opening Pablo Ferrández's programme is a delicacy, as Max Bruch's rarely heard work Kol Nidrei incorporates Jewish melodies. Beethoven's Cello Sonata No. 3 in A major, dating from his middle period, is the serious masterpiece in the programme, while the première of a contemporary piece without which no Rising Stars concert will be complete is - naturally - the product of another Spaniard, although one who - unlike most of the other composers in the series - is not young: At the age of 86, Antón-García Abril can boast a rich oeuvre specialising in film music and incidental music for television.

Nominated for the Rising Stars programme by: L'Auditori Barcelona, Palau de la Musica Catalana

In Festival Square after the concert, visitors will be able to participate in a meet and greet moderated by Endre Tóth, where they can chat with the artists appearing in the concert and request autographs.