In 2026, the Queen Elisabeth Competition celebrates the 150th anniversary of the birth of Queen Elisabeth and Pablo Casals, one of the greatest cellists of the twentieth century. We invite you to discover these archive photographs from the Pau Casals Foundation, which bear witness to the friendship between these two remarkable personalities. The joint celebration of their 150th anniversaries offered the Pau Casals Foundation an ideal opportunity to pay tribute to this exceptional relationship by making the magnificent Goffriller ‘Casals’ cello (1733) available to the First Laureate of the Competition for a period of four years. © Fundació Pau Casals (Pau Casals Foundation)