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Toni Castells | |
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![]() Castells performing at Bush Hall, London | |
Background information | |
Born | Berga |
Origin | Barcelona, Spain |
Genres | Post-Genre, Classical Crossover, New Age, Neo-classical, Ambient, Electronica, Video-Opera |
Occupation(s) | Composer, producer, educator, environmentalist. |
Instrument(s) | Piano, guitar, clarinet, electronics. |
Years active | 2006–present |
Labels | Sony Music Entertainment, Interstellar Music, Instant Attraction Records, Decca, AZ Records |
Website | www |
Toni Castells (born in Berga, Spain) is a Spanish composer based in London. His work combines elements of classical music, electronic music, and contemporary sound art, often drawing on genres such as neo-classical, ambient, and classical crossover. Castells has collaborated with various performers and has presented his compositions at venues in the United Kingdom and Europe. [1] [2] [3]
His musical style has drawn comparisons to a diverse range of artists. Ben Roberts of London Tourdates described it as "Massive Attack meets Mendelssohn", while producer Michael Haas described it as "Morricone meets Satie." The US label Magnatune characterised it as "Puccini meets Sigur Rós". [4] [5]
In addition to his musical career, Castells is a PhD candidate in biomedical engineering at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, exploring the therapeutic potential of music. His research focuses on the effects of sound on heart rate variability and chronic stress. He lectures on Music Technology at the London College of Music and Imperial College London. [6] [7] [8]
Castells began his musical education at the age of four. At six, he was identified as a child with high capacities, a detail featured in Maria Teresa Gomez Masdevall's academic book High Capacities in Boys and Girls: detection, identification and integration in school and family. [9] He began studying classical guitar as his primary instrument at the same age and later taught himself piano. He also studied the clarinet. At the age of 14, Castells began studies at the Conservatori Municipal de Música de Barcelona. During this time, his experimental piece for flute and piano, Imatges, received third prize ex aequo at the St. Joan de Vilatorrada Composition Prize. In the same year, he co-founded a pop band with friends from his music school, initially named Korrefok and later renamed Herzia. The band was signed by the independent Spanish label AZ Records in 1998. [10]
After completing his secondary education, Castells enrolled at La Salle University, where he completed a BSc and MSc in Electronic Engineering. One of his lecturers was Joan Trayter, founder of Music Lan recording studios in Avinyonet de Puigventós. Castells subsequently joined the studios as an engineer, where he worked for two years with a range of prominent Catalan and Spanish artists, including Jarabe de Palo, Enrique Bunbury, Peret, Andrés Calamaro, Macaco, Ojos de Brujo, Lluís Llach, Sopa de Cabra and Quimi Portet, among others. He also contributed to Unsterblich by the German punk rock band Die Toten Hosen. [10]
In 2000, Castells moved to London, where he worked as a recording and mixing engineer for José María Cano of the Spanish pop group Mecano. [2] He contributed to Cano's debut solo album JoseCano (Muxxic 2000), recording and editing vocals and mixing the album. In 2002, he worked with Cano again on Hala Madrid!, the centenary anthem of Real Madrid CF, featuring Plácido Domingo and composed by Cano. [11] From 2001 to 2006, Castells was an assistant recording engineer at the Royal College of Music, where he recorded the RCM Symphony Orchestra under conductors including Lorin Maazel, Bernard Haitink and Roger Norrington. [10]
In 2004, Castells started Momo, a project combining popular music with classical influences. Its debut album, Unharmed, was released independently in October 2006 and featured soprano Amelia Whiteman, Spanish singer Beth (Spain’s representative at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest), and Dublin-born singer Roberta Howett, a finalist in the first UK series of The X Factor (2004). [12] [13] [14]
Castells first presented Unharmed live at the Roxy Bar & Screen in London on 12 June 2007, in a performance combining music, visuals, and poetry. [15] The official premiere took place at Bush Hall, London, on 23 July 2007, in collaboration with the Sacconi Quartet and visual artist Conor Masterson. [16] [17] Between 2007 and 2009, the show was also performed in the UK and Spain, including at The Stables in Milton Keynes, FNAC in Barcelona, and the Mercat de Música Viva in Vic, [18] [19] as well as appearances at the Patronal Festival of Formentera, where he shared the bill with Maria del Mar Bonet and Manel. [20] [21] [22]
In 2009, Castells launched Famous Jack, a solo project influenced by post-punk, new wave and electro-psychedelic music. [10] He performed on the London live circuit, appearing at venues such as The Dublin Castle, The Water Rats, The Troubadour, 93 Feet East, the Windmill Brixton, The Bull & Gate, and The Camden Head. Castells released two studio albums under the name Famous Jack:Famous Jack (2009) and Superstar (2011). [10]
The London Trilogy is a cycle of three large-scale works composed by Castells between 2012 and 2018. The trilogy is conceptually inspired by the Buddhist First Dharma Seal, the Law of Impermanence, which teaches that all phenomena in material existence are transient: everything has a beginning, a middle, and an end, and suffering arises from resistance to this principle. Castells has also cited the pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus as an influence, particularly his famous observation: “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man.” [23] [24]
The trilogy explores three stages of the human life cycle: birth (expression), growth (experimentation), and death (integration / transcendence). [10] Each work is written for a bespoke ensemble that combines acoustic instruments, electronics, solo voices, and choir, with each piece adopting a distinct instrumental configuration. [25] Castells has described how he develops studio albums as preliminary sketches for these works, using them to refine the musical material before the staged performances. [26]
The trilogy was not composed in chronological order. The first two works focus on birth (Life from Light, 2012) and death (2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal, 2016), while the final piece, Hhumann X (2018), addresses the complexities of human growth and social connectedness. [27] [28] [29] [30]
Life from Light is a chamber video-opera that premiered at Union Chapel in London on November 15, 2012. [31] [32] It diverges from traditional operatic structure by adopting the form of an oratorio. The work incorporates multimedia and video art, showing the influence of Steve Reich's video-operas. [33]
The concept for Life from Light was drawn from an episode of the same name in the BBC documentary series How To Grow A Planet, which examines the origins of life on Earth. [34] [35] The piece is structured around a quote from Charles Darwin concerning the impossibility of the universe arising from "blind chance or necessity," using this as a foundation to explore themes of human origin, humanity's relationship with nature, and ecological impact. [36] [37] A notable aspect of the work is its incorporation of explicit sexual content and text sourced verbatim from Wikipedia, elements intended to underscore the role of sexual reproduction in evolution. [38] Some commentators have interpreted this as an effort to provide sex education and critique the trivialisation of sex in youth culture. [39] [40]
Life from Light was re-adapted in 2014 for performances at London’s Kings Place Hall One on 7 and 8 August, presented by invitation of Tete-a-Tete Opera and supported by Arts Council England. [41]
‘2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal?’ is a composition for small chamber ensemble, electronics, two voices and choir that premiered at St. James's Piccadilly in London on July 6, 2016. [42] A private performance was held at Cowdray Park on July 9, 2016. [43] Again the composer deviates from the traditional operatic form combining operatic voices with elements of popular music, downtempo electronica and sound art. [44] The piece was written for soprano, countertenor, piano trio and mixed choir and features sonifications of light curves captured by NASA’s Kepler space observatory. [1] [45]
“2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal” was originally an article published on Time Magazine in 2011 by Lev Grossman. [46] The article features computer engineer and futurologist Ray Kurzweil, Director of Engineering at Google Inc., describing the advent of Technological Singularity, a new era in which man and machine will finally merge allowing us to prolong life indefinitely, effectively making man immortal. [46] Through this paradigm of the future Castells explores our bad relationship with death and the efforts of our technocratic society to overcome it. [44] Through the piece this view is juxtaposed to the one of philosopher Alan Watts who in his teachings argued that in nature's game there's a purpose to dying, that it is not natural for us to wish to prolong life indefinitely and that the idea that death is a terrible thing is a tremendous disease from which our culture in particular suffers. [47] Castells states that the piece allowed him to overcome his own fear of death. [44]
'Hhumann X' is a composition for small chamber ensemble, electronics, two voices and choir that premiered at LSO St. Luke's on 20 October 2018. [48] The composition was inspired by the findings of the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness published in December 2014 that stated that in the UK over 9 million adults often or always feel lonely. [49] [50] The piece is an exploration of social isolation in an era of technological hyper-connectedness and its premiere featured More Than Just a Choir, a community choir based in North London that works with people suffering from mental illness and social isolation. [51] Castells stated: “I like to raise awareness about the double-edged effects of modernisation upon Western society and loneliness is one of these big issues.” [50] The premiere received the support of the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust. [52]
For the premiere of ‘Hhumann X’ at LSO St Luke's in 2018, Castells collaborated with Spanish pianist José Menor, violinist Harriet MacKenzie and soprano Honey Rouhani. [26] José Menor was nominated the same year for a Latin Grammy Award on the Best Classical Album category for ‘Enrique Granados: Goyescas’ (IBS Classical 2018). [53] [54]
In 2023 Castells was commissioned by Leah d’Auriol, founder of Oceanic Global to write the music for the 2023 World Oceans Day event entitled 'Planet Ocean: Tides are Changing'. The hybrid event was hosted by the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs (DOALOS), in partnership with Oceanic Global and supported by Panerai, with contribution by Discover Earth at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City and was broadcast live on UNWorldOceansDay.org and supporting channels for global accessibility. [55] [56]
Castells collaborated with meditation teacher Burgs, founder of the organisation The Art of Meditation, on his album Endless Blue Skies. Castells provided music to the tracks 'Time to Remember' and 'Mother and Daughter Clear Light'. Burgs was trained extensively in the Jhana practices by Pa Auk Sayadaw in Burma and in Dzogchen by His Holiness Dodrupchen Rinpoche in Sikkim India. [57]
In 2019 Castells collaborated with artist Cyril de Commarque creating the soundscape for his multi-media installation ‘Artificialis’. As part of its special Artist-In-Residency programme, the Saatchi Gallery presented the piece alongside another multi-media installation by Kate Daudy both created as a response to 'Tutankhamun: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh' inviting the viewer to contemplate notions of legacy and transition. [58]
This exhibition from IMG Exhibitions featured over 150 authentic tomb objects, with many appearing outside of Egypt for the first and last time. It ran from March 2018 to May 2020, touring North America, France and the United Kingdom. Before coming to London, 'Tutankhamun: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh' attracted more than 1.3 million visitors in Paris, becoming the most-visited exhibition in French history. [59] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the exhibition in London closed early on March 20, 2020, and the artifacts were returned to Egypt on August 28 of that year instead of continuing on to Boston and Sydney. A new permanent exhibition for the treasures is being constructed at the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo so this is the last time the contents of the tomb will be displayed outside of Egypt. [60]
In 2018 Castells collaborated with British fashion designer Liam Hodges to create the soundtrack of Hodge's presentation at London Fashion Week of his 2019 Fall/Winter collection entitled ‘Mutations in the 4th Dimension’ in January 2019. [61] The soundtrack featured reworked arrangements of Castells's Hhumann X which were performed live by soprano Honey Rouhani. [10]
Through 2017 and 2018 Castells started a writing collaboration with British singer-songwriter Catty Pearson, co-writing some of the songs of her 2018 independently released debut EP ‘Time Tells Me’. The EP was produced by Chris Kimsey, best known for his work producing The Rolling Stones, and recorded at legendary Olympic Sound Studios. [62]
In 2013, Decca Records commissioned Castells to coach crossover artist Hayley Westenra for a forthcoming TV appearance on American TV with Greek tenor Mario Frangoulis to perform a crossover version of Naturaleza Muerta, hit track by Spanish composer José María Cano and first released by Spanish pop band Mecano in 1991. [10] [63]
In 2011, leading classical label Decca Records commissioned Castells to translate Sting’s hit song Fields of Gold into Spanish. [10] The translation was entitled Campos de Oro and was included in American tenor’s Noah Stewart self-titled debut crossover album Noah, which was released in 2012 under Decca Records. [64] Castells also became Noah’s vocal coach for this particular track, which we recorded at Metropolis Studios in London. [10] Noah became the first black musician ever to top the UK Classical Album Chart when his album Noah reached number one and remained there for 7 weeks. [65]
In 2002 Castells worked with José María Cano recording and mixing the new Centenary Anthem for Real Madrid CF called Hala Madrid!, featuring Plácido Domingo and composed by José María Cano himself to celebrate the Spanish football club's centenary in 2002. [11]
Castells has been involved a variety of events that combine music, art and philanthropy. He created Buy Music, Get Art in 2008. For the project, held at Maddox Arts in Mayfair, a work of contemporary art by Norwegian artist based in Los Angeles Edvarda Braanaas entitled Ceci n'est pas Une Fille was sold in shares through a limited edition CD. [26] Another Castells project was Love in the Sky. Launched on June 30, 2009 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, the exhibition featured collaborative works from a collection of artists, which were auctioned off that night to benefit Coram, a charity for underprivileged children. More than £8,000 was raised. [1] He is also the founder of Xmas Rocks for Charity, a fundraising concert that took place in December 2007 at the Notting Hill Community Church to raise money for Depression Alliance and the Mood Foundation. [6]
Artist | Title | Format | Label | Year |
---|---|---|---|---|
Herzia | Coses que Passen | CD | AZ Records | 1999 |
momo | Unharmed | CD | Instant Attraction Records | 2007 |
momo | momo Live @ Bush Hall (Buy Music Get Art) | Limited Edition CD | Instant Attraction Records | 2008 |
Toni Castells | Fake Boobs | Online Single | Instant Attraction Records | 2009 |
Famous Jack | Famous Jack | Online Album | Interstellar Music | 2009 |
Famous Jack | Superstar | Online Album | Interstellar Music | 2010 |
Toni Castells | Sexual Intercourse | Online Double Single | Instant Attraction Records | 2010 |
Toni Castells | Piano Works | Online Album | Instant Attraction Records | 2011 |
Toni Castells | 1.60.3600 | Online Album | Instant Attraction Records | 2011 |
Toni Castells | Ob | Online Album | Instant Attraction Records | 2011 |
Toni Castells | Motherland | Online Album | Instant Attraction Records | 2011 |
Toni Castells | Creation | CD | Instant Attraction Records | 2011 |
Toni Castells | Life from Light (Live from Union Chapel) | CD/DVD | Interstellar Music | 2013 |
Toni Castells | Slaves of Time | CD | Interstellar Music | 2015 |
Toni Castells | Live from Kings Place | Online Album | Interstellar Music | 2016 |
Toni Castells | 4 Meditations | Online EP | Interstellar Music | 2016 |
Toni Castells | 2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal (ft. Aquinas Piano Trio) | Online Album | Interstellar Music | 2016 |
Toni Castells | 2045 | Online Album | Interstellar Music | 2016 |
Toni Castells | Savior Programs | Online Album | Interstellar Music | 2017 |
Toni Castells | Hhumann X | Online Album | Interstellar Music | 2018 |
Toni Castells, Elliott Liu | Mutations in the 4th Dimension (Reimagined) | Online EP | Interstellar Music | 2019 |
Toni Castells | Hhumann X (Live at LSO St Luke's) | Online Album | Interstellar Music | 2019 |
Toni Castells | Call Thou Upon My Name Unto Eternity, and It Shall Never Fail | Online Single | Interstellar Music | 2019 |
Toni Castells | Slaves of Time (Reimagined) | Online Album | Interstellar Music | 2020 |
Toni Castells, Sujay Bobade | Too Late Tomorrow | Online Single | Interstellar Music | 2021 |
Toni Castells | Am I? I Am | Online Album | Interstellar Music | 2021 |
Toni Castells | Sex in Japan | Online Album | Interstellar Music | 2021 |
Toni Castells, Cyril de Commarque | Artificialis | Online Single | Interstellar Music | 2021 |
Toni Castells | I Dream Of You In Colours That Don't Exist | Online Album | Interstellar Music | 2022 |
Toni Castells | The Mission | Online Single | Interstellar Music | 2022 |
Toni Castells | For Hans | Online Single | Interstellar Music | 2023 |
Toni Castells | On The Nature Of Things | Online Single | Interstellar Music | 2023 |
Toni Castells | Kállos | Online Single | Interstellar Music | 2023 |
Toni Castells | Quan Et Veig En Flor | Online Single | Interstellar Music | 2023 |
Toni Castells | World Oceans Day 2023 | Online EP | Interstellar Music | 2023 |
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