Albert Recasens was born in Cambrils (Tarragona). He began his musical studies early on, under the auspices of his father, the teacher and conductor Ángel Recasens, principally in the Professional Conservatory of Vilaseca y Salou. He perfected his knowledge of music at the Escola de Música in Barcelona, the Stedelijk Conservatorium van Brugge and the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Ghent (piano, conducting, choir singing, history of music and music composition). He attended several courses and seminars on music teaching, choir singing and conducting (Jorma Panula, Roland Börger). At the same time he studied for a degree in musicology at the Catholic University of Louvain in both the Dutch and French sections, and was awarded his doctorate degree in 2001 for a thesis on stage music in 18th century Madrid.
Since the beginning of his career he has combined performance, management and musicological research, with the conviction that an interdisciplinary approach and total commitment are necessary for the promotion of forgotten musical heritage. He has published musicological studies in various journals and encyclopaedias, both nationally and abroad, and has completed critical editions of Rodríguez de Hita’s zarzuela Briseida for the Instituto Complutense de Ciencias Musicales, and his Canciones instrumentales for the Fundación Caja Madrid (forthcoming), as well as Alonso Lobo’s Liber primus missarum for the Government of Andalucía. Likewise, he has been involved in research projects on the tonadilla escénica (popular stage song) (UAM), the “Sólo Madrid es Corte” network and the Aula Música Poética (University of Barcelona). He has taught at the University of Valencia and the Autonomous University of Madrid. At present his teaching activities take place principally at the University of Carlos III in Madrid (Masters Degree in Cultural Management) and the University of Valladolid (Early Music Courses).
In 2005 he began an ambitious project for the recovery of Spanish musical heritage in order to close gaps in the public institutions and universities, by founding La Grande Chapelle and the Lauda record label which culminate a whole process of historical recuperation from rigorous scientific research through to musical performance. This has brought to light unreleased works from some of the great composers of the 17th and 18th centuries (A. Lobo, J. P. Pujol, C. Patiño, J. Hidalgo, C. Galán, J. García de Salazar, F. Valls, J. de Nebra, A. Rodríguez de Hita, F. J. García Fajer, J. Lidón, etc.) in the form of premieres or first-time recordings, thus contributing to the spread of neglected cultural heritage.
In 2007 he took over the reins as artistic director of La Grande Chapelle. Since then he has conducted numerous concerts of both polyphony and baroque music, outstanding among which were those given at the National Auditorium in Madrid, the Cité de la Musique in Paris, the Oster-Klang Festival in Vienna, the Nezahualcóytl Auditorium, the International Cervantino Festival in Mexico and other festivals such as the Radio France Festival in Montpellier and those of Saintes and Ravenna. Among the theatre music premieres we must mention Calderón’s Universal Peace auto sacramental at the Cuenca Religious Music Week (together with Antiqua Escena and Ana Yepes) and Ramón Garay’s opera A Concise Compendium of the Spanish Revolution (1815) in Ubeda, Oviedo and Vigo.
He is absolutely committed to releasing CDs on the Lauda label that result from the in-depth research which makes La Grande Chapelle’s musical recoveries possible. With the select collection of CDs issued by the Lauda label he has garnered the respect of both public and critics alike. He has been awarded numerous prizes: (“Orphée d’Or”, “5 de Diapson “, “CD Excepcional” by Scherzo magazine, “Choc de Classica”, “Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik”, “Critics Choice” by Gramophone magazine, etc.).
