Born in La Canonja, Dani Espasa is an eclectic musician with a myriad of interests and very diverse artistic activities: he is a pianist, a harpsichordist, an accordionist, a conductor, a composer, an arranger, a producer, a teacher … His career goes down surprising roads, and it is equally possible to find him in theatre plays (he has worked with Lluís Pasqual, Calixto Bieito, Josep Maria Flotats, Joan Ollé, Sergi Belbel and Jordi Prat i Coll), conducting his Baroque ensemble Vespres d'Arnadí, collaborating with Maria del Mar Bonet and Lídia Pujol or at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC) teaching improvisation techniques or chamber music.
After studying harpsichord and basso continuo at the ESMUC with Béatrice Martin, he started an intense activity in Baroque, Renaissance and medieval music ensembles, like com Hespèrion XXI, Le Concert des Nations, L'Arpeggiata, Mala Punica, La Hispanoflamenca, The Rare Fruits Council, Les sacqueboutiers de Toulouse, La Caravaggia or MUSIca ALcheMIca. It was not long, however, before he started expanding his operational range and soon it was possible to see him conducting the Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra (OBC), with which he also collaborates as a pianist and harpsichordist, the baroque ensemble of the orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the National Classic Orchestra of Andorra (ONCA) o the contemporary music ensemble Bcn216. As an instrumentalist, he has premiered and recorded piano works by Joan Albert Amargós and Enric Granados, and he has made more than 40 recordings for the labels Aparté, Alia Vox, Erato, Passacaille, Pan Classics, Naxos, Harmonia Mundi i BIS Records.
Espasa has been on stage together with artists of very different styles: Joan Albert Amargós, Eliseo Parra, Sílvia Pérez Cruz, Sting, Paul Simon, John Cale, Ute Lemper, Rolando Villazón, Philippe Jaroussky, Mayte Martín, Judit Neddermann, Dulce Pontes, Nina, Alfonso Vilallonga, Kepa Junquera, Maria Farantouri, Santiago Auserón, Maika Makovski, Nigel Kennedy, Maya Plisetskaya or Blaumut... In 2020 he was awarded a Butaca prize for the best composition for the stage for the music of La Rambla de les Floristes (National Catalonia Theatre).
He currently combines his artistic activity with teaching at the ESMUC and as a member of the Historical Interpretation Programme at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía de Madrid, where he teaches harpsichord and basso continuo. He is also the artistic director of the concert cycle at the Reial Monestir de Santa Maria de Pedralbes.
Dani Espasa, the musician that almost became an architect, is an undeniable referent in the early music field in Catalonia and the world.
