Pau Casals

Pablo Casals (29 December 1876 – 22 October 1973), also known by his birth name, Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: [ˈpaw kəˈzalz i ðəfiˈʎo]), was a Catalan cellist, composer, and conductor, born in Spain. He made many recordings throughout his career of solo, chamber, and orchestral music, including some as conductor, but he is perhaps best remembered for the recordings he made of the Cello Suites by Bach.

Casals had an international career and traveled and performed widely. With the fall of Republican Spain to the Nationalist forces of Francisco Franco in 1939, Casals went into self-exile, refusing to return to Spain until democracy was restored. He lived in Prades, France from 1939 to 1956, and then in Ceiba, Puerto Rico from 1956 until his death in 1973.

President John F. Kennedy awarded Casals the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, though the ceremony was presided over by President Johnson. One of his last compositions was the Hymn to the United Nations, which he conducted at the United Nations in 1971. At that event, he was awarded the U.N. Peace Medal in recognition of his stance for peace, justice and freedom. In accepting the award, he gave a short speech I Am a Catalan and performed the traditional Catalan song, El Cant dels Ocells (Catalan: [əl ˈkan dəlz uˈseʎs], 'The Song of the Birds').