(Section C)
Led by LAURANCE TURNER
Conducted by LESLIE HEWARD
ANTONI SALA (violoncello)
At the age of eleven Sala played before the Queen of Spain at Madrid and a year later made a concert tour, with his aunt, Dolores Sala , as his accompanist, which established his reputation as a remarkably gifted player. He crowned his success by winning the first prize of the Conservatoire in Barcelona. Concerts in Paris and Germany followed and were no less successful, and while he was still in his teens he was appointed 'cellist to the Court at Madrid.
In 1914 he went to America, and after five years as a concert artist, suddenly gave up music altogether, and embarked on the open-air life of a farmer. But after experiencing three years of this hard life, the claims of his abandoned 'cello were too strong to be resisted. and two months' practice set him again in his rightful place as one of the great players of our time.