New Catalan Voices

Difficulty: Level B
Voices: Equal voices
Age: 10-18 years old

New Catalan Voices

Discover the new generation of Catalan composers who are renewing choral music with a blend of tradition and modern expression.
A new generation of young catalan composers is fulfilling our country’s choral singing with fantastic music full of bold harmonies, poetic lyrics, and surprising textures. Are you curious about fresh, vibrant choral music that blends tradition with modern expression? Join the New Catalan Voices Workshop and dive into the music of young catalan composers shaping Catalonia’s choral scene, with works of Josep Ollé, Bernat Vivancos or Josep Vila Casañas among others.
Oriol Castanyer
Catalonia, Spain

He began his music studies at the Municipal Conservatory of Music in Sant Cugat del Vallès and continued at the Professional Conservatory of Terrassa, the Municipal Superior Conservatory of Music in Barcelona, and the Liceu Conservatory, where he earned his Diploma in Piano Performance under the guidance of pianist Miquel Farré.

In parallel, he studied choral conducting with Elisenda Carrasco, Xavier Sans, Mireia Barrera, and Xavier Puig, and in 2013 graduated in choral conducting from the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC), where he studied with Josep Vila i Casañas and Johan Duijck.

Interested in various musical styles, he is a member of the traditional and folk music group Amanida Folk, with whom he has performed concerts throughout Catalonia, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, and France. He has taught choral singing at the Conservatory of Terrassa and harmony at the Aula de So music school in Sant Cugat del Vallès.

He has collaborated with the “la Caixa” Foundation as a pianist and rehearsal director for participatory performances of Mozart’s Requiem and Handel’s Messiah. Since 2011, he has also worked with the Educational Service of L’Auditori in Barcelona as a conductor for the Cantània and Cantagran projects, and he is regularly invited to lead courses and workshops for various organizations and festivals (FCEC, SCIC, Corearte, AEMCAT…).

He worked with the Lieder Càmera choir as rehearsal pianist and assistant conductor from 2008 to 2014. He has also been accompanist pianist for the Orfeó Català Children’s Choir and pianist for the Catalan National Youth Choir (2013–2017), as well as conductor of the Coral Sinera of Lluïsos de Gràcia (2012–2019). In 2001, he founded the Cor Aglepta, a women’s choir which he has directed ever since, and he is currently also the pianist and conductor of the Sant Cugat Children’s Choir and, since 2016, conductor of the Coral Sant Jordi. In September 2022, he assumed the co-direction of the Orfeó Català Youth Choir (at the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona).