Toni Castells
| Toni Castells | |
|---|---|
Castells performing at Bush Hall
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| Background information | |
| Born |
3 January 1976 Berga |
| Origin | Barcelona, Spain |
| Genres | Post-Genre, Neo-classical, Ambient, Electronica, Video-Opera |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, producer |
| Instruments | Piano, guitar, clarinet. |
| Years active | 1990–present |
| Labels | Instant Attraction Records, Interstellar Music |
| Associated acts | momo |
| Website | www |
Toni Castells is a Spanish composer. Originally from Barcelona, he now resides in London, where he composes, records and performs his own music. In 2007 he naturalised as a British citizen
Castells entered music school at the age of five, where he studied classical guitar, clarinet and piano, as well as musical composition. He toured Europe multiple times as a member of several youth orchestras. By the age of 12, Castells started his first band Korrefok, a folk-rock band where he wrote the music and played the keyboards. After winning local band competitions, the band was signed by AZ Records under the name Herzia. Their debut album, Coses que Passen, was released in 1999. At the age of 14 he won the III Young Composers Competition, organized in St. Joan de Vilatorrada (Barcelona), with his experimental composition “Images.”
In 2000, Castells moved to London, where he worked as a sound engineer for Jose Maria Cano of the Spanish pop group Mecano. He subsequently worked as a recording engineer at the Royal College of Music, and now lectures in Sound Technology and Music Technology at the London College of Music and Imperial College London.
In 2006, Castells started momo, a music project that merges the varied influences of classical, pop, opera, electronica and poetry, along with performances that combine the music with visual arts. momo's debut Unharmed was first released digitally in 2007. Featuring the vocals of Spanish singer Elisabeth Rodergas (better known as Beth), the album reached the iTunes Top 20 download charts. Castells founded Instant Attraction Records as a vehicle for releasing momo's music, and subsequently released Unharmed as a physical release, along with several more albums over the years.
'Life from Light' was readapted in 2014 by invitation of Tete-a-Tete Opera and, sponsored by the Arts Council England, was performed over two nights at London’s Kings Place Hall One in August 7th and 8th 2014.
‘2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal?’ is the follow-up work to ‘Life from Light’ that premiered at St. James’s Piccadilly in London on July 6, 2016. A private performance was held at Cowdray Park on July 9, 2016. Again the composer deviates from the traditional operatic form combining operatic voices with elements of popular music, downtempo electronica and sound art. 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.
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Wikipedia