The composer and conductor Josep Planells Schiaffino has collaborated with a number of ensembles and orchestras, among them the WDR Sinfonierochester Köln, Basel Sinfonietta, Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken, Orquesta Nacional de España, Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa, Orquesta de Valencia, Bayerisches Landesjugendorchester, Sächsische Bläserphilharmonie, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Mosaik, Zafraan Ensemble, Remix Ensemble, Danubia Orchestra Óbuda and the Kritisches Orchester at the Theater Basel, Kölner Philharmonie, Fondation Royaumont, Lucerne Festival, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Fundación Juan March, Rudolf-Oetker-Halle, Bockenheimer Depot, Frankfurt LAB, Auditorio Nacional de España, Palau de la Música de València, Theaterhaus Stuttgart, Casa da Música Porto, Palau de Les Arts and the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, among others.
For his music, he has been awarded many distinctions, including the Roche Young Commission of the Lucerne Festival, the New Scenes IV of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the DAAD-Prize, 1st Prize “Vorhof der Völker” Berlin, 3rd Prize in the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Hochschulwettbewerb and the 1st Prize in the INJUVE Competition. His commissioned works include a piece for the conducting workshop INTERAKTION, Zafraan Ensemble, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Orquesta Nacional de España, INAEM, Sigma Project, Vibrart, Trio Musicalis, CNDM and for the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, where he resided as part of the Composer’s residence of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes.
As a conductor, Josep Planells Schiaffino assisted Franck Ollu from 2017 to 2020, with whom he participated in the productions of Rihm’s Jakob Lenz at the Staatsoper Berlin (Dir. Andrea Breth), Dusapin’s Medea at Salzburg Festspiele and Macbeth Underworld at the Opéra Comique Paris (Dir. Thomas Jolly), with the Deutsche Symphonie Orchester Berlin for the Festival Ultraschall and in the Xenakis’ Oresteia at the Theater Basel (Dir. Calixto Bieito), making his opera debut when he conducted two performances in April 2017. He studied with Fred Buttkewitz in Berlin and took part in several master classes with Peter Rundel in Oporto and with Peter Eötvös in Budapest and Munich. 2015 he won the 1st Interpretation Prize in the Hanns Eisler Competition. 2019 he worked with Matthias Pintscher and Heinz Holliger as part of the Lucerne Festival Conducting Fellowship.
Over the last years, he has regularly collaborated with the Ensemble Modern, with whom he has participated in projects such as Story Water (Emanuel Gat Dance) and Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company meets Ensemble Modern by Jacopo Godani. In 2020 he made his operatic debut in Spain, conducting Die Zauberflöte at the Teatre Principal in Palma de Mallorca (in a co-production with Opera Zuid Maastricht). Since 2022, he has been working regularly at the Gran Teatre del Liceu. In the 2021-22 season he made his debut in the Foyer of the Gran Teatre del Liceu conducting the premiere of the chamber opera Entre los árboles, by José Río Pareja. In 2023, he assisted Josep Pons in the award-winning production of Parsifal and recently worked with Pierre Bleuse on the premiere of Orgia by Hèctor Parra. Last season he also made his conducting debut at the Pierre Boulez Saal.
Born in Valencia in 1988, Josep Planells Schiaffino obtained his Clarinet Diploma at the Conservatori Superior de Música “Joaquín Rodrigo” and his Composition Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree under the guidance of Arnulf Hermann and Hanspeter Kyburz at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin. During this time he also received tuition from Salvatore Sciarrino, Brian Ferneyhough and Wolfgang Rihm. He obtained support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, Förderverein of the HfM “Hanns Eisler”, La Caixa/DAAD, State of Berlin’s “Elsa-Neumann-Scholarship” and and the Peter Eötvös Foundation. He completed a PhD at Cambridge University supervised by Richard Causton and funded by an Honorary Vice-Chancellor’s Award of the Cambridge Commonwealth, European & International Trust and a Pigott Doctoral Studentship.
During the academic year 2021-22 he worked as Guest Professor of Composition at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC) and since 2023, he has conducted various projects at the Conservatori del Liceu. He has also given lectures at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Castilla y León, Universidad Complutense de Madrid and the University of Cambridge.
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