Recognised as one of the most versatile and multifaceted cellists of his generation, he combines solo projects with intense chamber music activity. He is the founder of Quartet Casals and Trío Ludwig.
Arnau Tomàs Realp was born in Barcelona in 1973. Between 1990 and 1994, he studied at the Superior Conservatory of Utrecht, alongside Elias Arizcuren Later, he was a student of Ivan Monighetti at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía and at the Musikakademie der Stadt Basel, as well as Frans Helmerson at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne.
He has won the first prize in the Germans Claret (1990), Ciutat de Manresa (1996), and JJMM de España (1996) competitions. He also won the second prize in the Jonge Talent competition in the Netherlands (1991). In 1992, he was selected by the direction of the Concertgebow in Amsterdam to participate in a televised masterclass taught by Yo Yo Ma.
He has been invited as the principal cellist in the Orquesta de Radiotelevisión Española, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, and the Conjunto Ibérico de Violonchelos, and has collaborated with the ECCO and the Deutsche Kammerphilarmonie Bremen. In addition to numerous cello solo recitals, he has performed as a soloist with the London Schools Symphony Orchestra, the Orquesta Filarmonía de Cámara de Barcelona, the Orquestra Filarmonia de Cambra de Barcelona, and the Orquestra simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya. He has recorded a solo cello CD featuring works by Bach, Cassadó, and Kodaly.
Aside from his concert activities, he has been a guest professor at the Musikhochschule in Cologne and has participated in masterclasses both in Europe and the United States.