Òscar Alabau is the solo cellist of the Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu and professor at the Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu.
Alabau was born in Barcelona in 1988 and began his cello studies with his father Joaquim Alabau. In 2006, he joined the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London with professor Louise Hopkins, where he completed his higher education and a Master in Performance. He also finished the Soloist Artist Diploma with a full scholarship from the Guildhall School Trust. He pursued his studies thanks to scholarships awarded by the Pau Casals Foundation, the Generalitat de Catalunya, Joventuts Musicals de Madrid, MBF, Craxton, and the WCOM of London. Other influential figures in his artistic development have been Lluís Claret at the Conservatori Superior de Música de Liceu and Ralf Gothoni at the Reina Sofia School of Music.
He debuted at Wigmore Hall in London as a soloist and has extensively performed throughout England and in venues such as St. John’s Smith Square, the Barcelona Auditorium, Palau de la Música Catalana, and Barbican Hall. Among his most represented soloist repertoire are the concertos by Elgar, Schumann, F. Gulda, and the Rococo Variations by P. I. Tchaikovsky, among others. He has also premiered a work by Albert Guinovart performed together with the composer and pianist, and the latest solo cello work by J.S. Abdelmoula.
Throughout his career, he has won national and international competitions such as the Guilhermina Suggia International Competition in London, Joventuts Musicals, Primer Palau, Tillett Trust Young Artist Platform Prize, BBVA Montserrat Alavedra Prize, Prince’s Prize in London, etc. He has also participated in international festivals such as Gstaad, the City of London Festival, the Esbjerg Festival, IMS Prussia Cove, the Santander Festival, the Aspen Music Festival USA, among others. In recent years, he has shared the stage with artists like Janine Jansen, Eldar Nebolsin, Antonio Meneses, and Wolfram Christ.
He currently plays a Camillus Camilli fecit Mantua 1745 cello loaned by Mrs. Ursula Herman, a Thiboubille-Lamy bow funded by the Wolfson Foundation of London, and a fine Lafleur School cello bow loaned by London Brompton’s.