Juan Cantarell was born in Barcelona where he studied piano at the Academia Marshall with Alicia de Larrocha and Mercè Roldós. He studied conducting at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna with Karl Österreicher and Julius Kalmar and at the same time he continued the studies of piano with Carmen Graf-Adnet and Hans Graf. He made his debut at the Musikverein of Vienna directing the Pro-Arte Orchester Wien. He realised the Postgraduate conducting studies at the Royal Academy of Music (London) with Sir Colin Davis, Colin Metters and George Hurst, obtaining the Diploma of Advanced Studies. He has done some Conducting Master Courses at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena (Italy) with Ferdinand Leitner, Ilia Musin and Valery Gergiev. Since his debut in Spain, conducting the Orchestra Camerata Mediterrànea with Alícia of Larrocha as a soloist at the Schubertiada in Vilabertran, has realised numerous concerts in England, Italy, Germany, France, Poland, Czech Republic and Canada. A highlight was his presentation in the Palau de la Música Catalana with The London New Sinfonia Orchestra, at the invitation of the Conservatoire Superior de música del Liceu to conduct the concert of his 160th anniversary to the Main Hall of the UNESCO in Paris. His debut at the Staatsoper of Prague with the Orchestra and Choir of the Opera and the soloist Eva Randovà, his presentation at the Festival of Modern Music of Quebec, etc. tours across Germany with the Artur Rubinstein Lodz Philharmonic and the Cappella Istropolitana of Bratislava.
Likewise, he was the Musical Director of the show “Fés córrer la veu!” directed by film-maker Rosa Vergés in the opening concerts of the new Auditorium of Barcelona and the lyric show “A te, Bellini”, premièred at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid and on tour at several theatres in Spain this season.
He has been musical assistant to the Chorusmaster of the Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, William Spaulding, and repertoire pianist at the ESMUC (Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya). From 2010 he took the challenge to found the Youth Symphony Orchestra of the Barcelona IPSI School of Music with the collaboration of one of the finest youth choirs in Spain, the Cor Vivaldi-Petits cantors de Catalunya.
From season 2015 he has been appointed Musical Assistant to Karel Mark Chichon at the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken. From 2015 he has started his collaboration with the Philharmonic Orchestra Mihail Jora-Bacau (Romania) where he has conducted Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and Tosca and several symphonic concerts, and he has recently been appointed as First Permanent Guest Conductor.
In 2017 he was appointed Musical Director of the Hunedoara Lirica Festival (Deva, Romania), where he started with Puccini’s Tosca and Verdi’s Rigoletto, comming back this season for Verdi’s Macbeth and Il Trovatore, conducting the Orchestra and Chorus of the Sate Opera Ruse. He is President of the Jury at the Vox Artis singing competition in Sibiu, where he also conducts the State Sibiu Philharmonic Orchestra. Recently he has also been invited to conduct the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria (Spain) (july 2019), European Sinfonietta (Gibraltar), Lower Silesian Philharmonie (Poland), Arad State Philharmonic at the IRNO Festival Salerno (Italy), among other orchestras.
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