Final selection for the Pablo Casals International Award for Young Cellists was made virtually on 20th November 2020. The ten finalist candidates performed two pieces which they recorded for the jury to watch. The jury, chaired by Marta Casals Istomin, Co-founder and Vice-president of the Pau Casals Foundation, was made up of internationally renowned cellists such as Claudio Bohórquez, Henri Demarquette, Gustav Rivinus, Arnau Tomàs (winner of the Pablo Casals Scholarship in 1991), and also Bernard Meillat, artistic advisor of the Pau Casals Foundation and secretary of the jury, and deliberated by videoconference, in a virtual edition due to Covid-19.
Xuanhan Xu. Student at the Hochschule für Musik Saar (Germany). Born in Hangzhou, China, in 2004. She began playing the piano at the age of five and the cello at the age of eight. When she was thirteen she continued her studies in Germany, where she is currently studying with Gustav Rivinius at the Hochschule für Musik Saar in Saarbrücken. In 2017 she performed with the National Center of Performing Arts Orchestra of Beijing, becoming the youngest cellist ever to perform with the NCPA. She has performed with other international orchestras in Asia and Europe.