works for carillon, 8 works akin to symphonic poems, 9 choral works, 13 chamber music works, 13 electro-acoustic works,14 art songs, 16 instrumental solo pieces, 17 gamelan pieces and 25 ensemble pieces. His compositions range from miniature to large-scale works in the European tradition, as well as multidisciplinary works which combine European, Chinese and Indian instruments, as well as the gamelan, together with computer-generated sound and images. His compositional trademark is the organic combination of European and non-European instruments. Nine audio and two video compact disks entirely devoted to Casteels’ works have been published thus far. Chronologically, the compositional output of Robert Casteels can be divided into three periods: 14 opus numbers, mostly atonal, composed in Belgium, his country of birth, from 1981 to 1988, followed by a gap of seven years of compositional silence, then -coinciding with his arrival in South-east Asia- a second period from 1995 to 1999 with 19 opus numbers focused on spectral music and gamelan, followed by a silent year in 2000, and since 2001 a third period of mostly modal or poly-modal compositions. His compositions have been premiered or performed in Australia, Belgium, China, England, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. Casteels is also an active arranger for choir, organ, piano, wind and guitar orchestras.    

 

Casteels has conducted more than 50 professional orchestras in a repertoire of 600 works ranging from the early classics to contemporary music, from symphonic to vocal and dance repertoire. He has conducted first performances of symphonic works, ballets and operas in festivals such as: Spoleto Festival, Ars Musica, Brisbane Biennale, Focus, Wien Modern, Donaueschingen and Berlin Biennale. He has premiered significant masterpieces in Singapore, including works by Boulez, Ligeti, Takemitsu, Stockhausen and Varèse.

 

Casteels holds music degrees from both Royal Music Conservatories of Brussels, the Guildhall (London) and Juilliard (NY) Schools and The University of Melbourne. He is the recipient of several awards, including the Bruno Walter Scholarship for Orchestral Conducting awarded by the Juilliard School for two consecutive years, as well as the First Prize for contemporary music at the International Conducting Competition of the Hungarian Radio and Television. In 2001, Casteels became the youngest recipient and the second musician ever to receive the prestigious Christoffel Plantin Prize, the Flemish Government’s highest award for cultural achievements, in recognition of his contribution to cross-cultural research. Born in Belgium, he took up permanent residency in Singapore in 1996 and citizenship in 2007.

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Website: www.robertcasteels.com