6/18/26: After a busy spring of gigging around the NYC area as a vocalist, composer, and piano instructor, I’m honestly ready to just kinda chill for a bit this summer. I’ll still be teaching piano and doing some choral gigs for the next couple months, but I have a lot more free time to stretch back, relax, binge “The Traitors” with my partner, and work (at a very leisurely pace) on some dream projects of mine that have been germinating for some time now.
One of those projects is actually going to manifest in a physical, tangible form at the inaugural Unsettlement Summer Session in Boscawen, NH. Led by Ted Hearne, Micaela Tobin, and Natalie Joachim, this program is going to have me working with other multidisciplinary musicians and artists. I’ll be working on an audiovisual installation with visual artist Nia Easley that will explore themes of Caribbean migration, colonization, gentrification, and climate, with sounds and visuals of water connecting all of the above themes. It’s definitely one of the more ambitious projects I’ve worked on, but I’m looking forward to getting to work with all of the extremely dope and talented artists there!
I’m also working on a set of miniatures for organ, piano, and electronics, the working title of which is “Wonders in the Land of Ham.” Each movement will take an out of context verse from a biblical psalm, and create something new and unexpected from it. It’s a really unserious piece and I’m hoping it stays that way.
Ooh also I’ve been working on solo rep as a countertenor that I hope to share here soon, so stay tuned! I’ve been more seriously exploring that part of my voice for the past three or four years, but have nothing tangible to show for it yet. Hopefully by the end of the summer I can find the time and resources to record some of my favorite Bach arias for that elusive voice type.
Ok that’s all for now, enjoy your summer!
Knicks in five,
Danny :)
Daniel Santiago Castellanos 