Everything which belongs to the body is a stream, and what belongs to the soul is a dream and vapour
The Meditations, Book II-17, Marcus Aurelius
Biography
Alejandro Casal was born in Seville, where he studied piano, double bass, composition, harpsichord and musicology. Later he furthered his studies of harpsichord and basso continuo with Tony Millán, Jan Willem Jansen and Jacques Ogg, and also became interested in the organ and clavichord.
As a harpsichord and organ player, he has played with numerous ensembles and orchestras such as The King’s Consort, Capella della Pietà dei Turchini, Orquesta Barroca de la Universidad de Salamanca, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, Orquesta Ciudad de Málaga, Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra, Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla, Coro Barroco de Andalucía, etc. Since its creation in 1995, he plays regularly with the Seville Baroque Orchestra (National Music Prize 2011 and Manuel de Falla Prize 2010) under the direction of musicians such as Gustav Leonhardt, Monica Hugget, Christophe Coin, Pablo Valetti, Enrico Onofri, Amandine Beyer, Alfredo Bernardini, Antonio Florio, Pierre Cao, Robert King, Hervé Niquet, Andreas Spering, Alan Curtis, Giuliano Carmignola, Shunsuke Sato, Hiro Kurosaki or Barry Sargent, among others.
He has performed in London, Milan, Paris, Lisbon, Würzburg, Toulouse, Berlin, Festival de Musique Sacrée & Baroque de Froville, and practically in all the Festivals of the national geography as Festival Internacional de Música y Danza de Granada, Festival de Música Antigua de Úbeda y Baeza, Festival de Música Antigua de Gijón, Ciclo de Caja San Fernando, Festival de Música Antigua de Aranjuez, Ciclo Los Siglos de Oro de Caja Madrid, Festival de Música Antigua de Sevilla (FeMÀS), Teatro de la Zarzuela, Teatro Real de Madrid, Auditorio Nacional de Música, etc.
In 2007 he participated in the modern premiere of Domenico Scarlatti’s Ottavia with the Capella della Pietà dei Turchini conducted by Antonio Florio at the Quincena Musical Donostiarra and Naples. Since then he has performed regularly with this ensemble including the representation of L’Incoronazione di Poppea in Valladolid or Naples.
Recordings
Instruments
Harpsichord after Christian VATER
Germanisches Nationalnuseum Núremberg Andrea Restelli, Milán (2017)
Harpsichord after Claude LABRÈCHE
Würtembergisches Landesmuseum Stuttgart Joop Klinkhamer, Ámsterdam (2008)
Harpsichord after Giovanni Battista GIUSTI
Germanisches Nationalnuseum Nuremberg Titus Crijnen, Sabiñán (2017)
Harpsichord after Joachim José ANTUNES
Finchcokcs Collection Goudhurst Ugo Casiglia, Cinisi (2011)
Clavichord after anonimous
Musikinstrumenten-Museum der Universität Leipzig Geert Karman, Lisboa (2017)
POSITIVE ORGAN Henk Klop
Henk Klop, Garderen (2004)
References
Extraordinary basso continuo, capable of giving character to each movement with the necessary combination of strength, precision, flexibility and volume. Cathedrals can be built on that rock.
Casal proves to be a very persuasive advocate for the work of Johann Krieger. He is an intelligent and sensitive musician, with a secure – but undogmatic – understanding of the idioms of Baroque keyboard music, whether German (as in Foberger and Krieger) or Spanish as in the case of Albero.
Casal is a fine player, vibrant, sensitive and idiomatic, and not at all afraid of the more bumptious irruptions of ornamental dissonance and sharply snapped rhythms that characterise Iberian keyboard music of the time.
Contact
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