Toni Castells is a Spanish composer, educator and researcher whose work bridges music, technology and human wellbeing.

Classically trained from a young age, he combined Conservatoire studies with conventional education, graduating as an MEng Electronic Engineer (High Distinction) from La Salle Barcelona. He later relocated to London, where he developed his career as a composer while also shaping music technology education and research at the London College of Music and Imperial.

His music was described as “Morricone meets Satie” by Michael Haas, multi Grammy Award winning producer of classical artists such as Georg Solti, Zubin Mehta, Mstislav Rostropovich, Daniel Barenboim, Cecilia Bartoli and Luciano Pavarotti. The Independent called it "Pop goes Mozart." London's Tourdates described it as "Massive Attack meets Mendelssohn." US label Magnatune as "Puccini meets Sigur Rós."

A Catalan composer based in London, Castells has spent over two decades building a musical language that fuses classical composition, opera, electronica, contemporary songwriting and, at times, spoken word, not as pastiche or crossover, but as a single coherent voice. Where crossover adapted existing repertoire and the neoclassical wave of the 2000s was consolidating around a Northern European aesthetic — restrained, secular, minimalist — Castells moved in the opposite direction: maximalist, dramatic, emotionally unguarded, and deeply spiritual. His work has always reached toward transcendence, toward questions of faith, inner life and what lies beyond the material at a moment when the mainstream had little room for that.

He has collaborated and worked with artists such as Plácido Domingo, Hayley Westenra and Beth Rodergas. His live performances have taken place at iconic venues including Union Chapel and LSO St Luke’s in London. The Guardian named 2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal one of the “Five of the Best Classical Concerts” in 2016. His music has been used in over 200 million user-generated videos across YouTube and Facebook worldwide.

His work has also been presented at the Saatchi Gallery in London, Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome and the United Nations Headquarters in New York during World Oceans Day in collaboration with Oceanic Global, with conservation being one of his passions outside music.

At Imperial, Toni has been leading for over 20 years within the Imperial Horizons programme, one of the most popular and oversubscribed initiatives in the university’s Humanities offering. His course focuses on creativity at the heart of one of the world’s leading STEM institutions, helping students not only become more creative, but also discover their unique artistic and personal voice, an increasingly vital skill in today’s world.

Alongside teaching, Toni is completing a PhD in Biomedical Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), researching how musical rhythms can entrain and maximise heart rate variability (HRV) to reduce chronic stress. His work sits at the intersection of music, neuroscience and longevity, exploring the profound link between mental health and music.

“Morricone meets Satie”

”In truth, it's far more subtle than that, and I would also add the unfamiliar name of Reynaldo Hahn.
Other obvious names are people like Henryk Górecki or Philip Glass, but these are perhaps too obvious.

Morricone I believe, comes to mind because there is a cinematic vividness to Toni´s music that, like his,
exudes expanse and distance. It's dramatic and seems to come from distant times and places.
Satie because I feel there is a certain painful nostalgia. And Reynaldo Hahn is relevant because, unlike Satie,
he was a more sophisticated cultivator of melancholy and, frankly, more serious as a composer.

The Glass and Górecki comparisons are simplistic and have to do mostly with operatic voices singing vocalises in many of his compositions (so does Freddie Mercury in 'Barcelona'!).

Other obvious film composers who may be worth mentioning as possible references are Angelo Badalamenti
or even Mark Knopfler. I don't think either of those two counts as 'classical'.”

Michael Haas

Grammy-winning producer behind iconic recordings of Zubin Mehta, Mstislav Rostropovich, Daniel Barenboim, Cecilia Bartoli, and Luciano Pavarotti.

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