Carolina Santiago is a contemporary music pianist and experimental performer based in Strasbourg, whose artistic profile is characterised by research into the musician as an embodied mind and the performance of unconventional repertoire resulting from collaborations between composer and performer. An eclectic new music artist, she performs as a soloist and in chamber music groups such as Ensemble Linea, L’Imaginaire, Semblance, Syntagma Piano Duo and Regrat Duo.
Can you tell us about your background? Were you always drawn to the piano?
I started studying piano at the age of seven, drawn by the intense musical life in my hometown, Yecla, in the south of Spain. In my town and the surrounding communities, making music and the social communities built around it are very common: wind instrument bands, brass bands for festivities, rock and modern music groups… My brother played the flute, and I signed up for piano simply for fun. Gradually, I became more and more interested until, during my teenage years, it became my passion. As a teenager, I studied both classical and modern music (rock, a bit of blues and jazz, flamenco fusion…), but it was classical music that ultimately became my main focus. After an intense period in a rather insular world dedicated exclusively to classical piano, I moved to Barcelona. The city’s artistic scene captivated me. Toward the end of my classical music studies at the Liceu in Barcelona, I started attending underground concerts and discovered contemporary music and improvisation in all its forms. I was fascinated. I began specialising in contemporary music, performing current repertoire, and collaborating with composers, and this dynamic dialogue was a turning point for me. In 2020, I was selected for a European master’s programme called CoPeCo (Contemporary Performance and Composition), an experimental music programme where you have to perform, compose, improvise, learn electronic music, and carry out a project over two years at four institutions: HfMT in Hamburg, KMH in Stockholm, EMTA in Tallinn, and CNSMD in Lyon. There, I met incredible artists from very diverse scenes: free jazz, electroacoustic composition, electronic improvisation, experimental performance, interdisciplinary projects… I love this blend of worlds. And I believe music is nothing more than the beautiful experience of the vast plurality that exists.
During my studies, I collaborated with various contemporary music groups in Europe, including Ensemble Linea from Strasbourg. These artistic collaborations drew me to this Alsatian city, with its rich and intense culture, an open scene in the heart of Europe that is particularly plural and diverse. Here, I continue to work and learn from my colleagues.
To what extent has formal education shaped your creativity as a pianist and musician?
My formal education was primarily in classical music, a world I deeply admire and am now part of in a specific way, specialising in other forms of music. The discipline, refinement, and attention to detail in technique attract me intensely. And I believe that technique and discipline are not antonyms of creativity; they can, in fact, be the source of beautiful ideas.
Your work focuses on blurring the creative boundaries between the performer and composer – a dichotomy that has traditionally been quite distinct, at least in the world of classical music. Can you talk about your efforts? How do the roles of composer and performer differ for you, and how do they come together?
In recent years, a desire for creative independence and self-expression has grown within me, but has emerged through dialogue. I have devised certain ways to build bridges of connection—working methods that consolidate this dialogue through interactive exchange. It is crucial that the performer does not feel like a mere executor. We are also thinking bodies, embodied minds (as Fischer-Lichte says), and we can also be part of the creative process in various ways. There is no need to impose the traditional hierarchy of composer-performer creativity, as doing so means accepting rules that, in my opinion, are already outdated.
You work as a soloist but also in chamber ensembles. Which aspects of each do you most enjoy?
I love balancing solo work and collaborative projects with groups and colleagues I admire. In chamber ensembles, there’s the beauty of live, plural communication. That interaction is fascinating, and I’m constantly learning from my peers. As a soloist (and also in most of my duo projects), I am the one curating what I play and how I play it. Let’s say I have more freedom in a certain sense and also more responsibility. I don’t think I could dedicate myself exclusively to one thing: the life of a soloist is, in a way, too lonely for me, while committing exclusively to chamber music would make me miss playing alone.
You are currently pursuing a PhD in artistic research, focusing on the work of composer Olivier Messiaen. Can you talk about your research project and the importance of artistic research for you?
My doctoral research is titled “Migrating to the Origin: Becoming-Bird Through an Interpretation of Messiaen’s Catalogue d’oiseaux.” In fact, it is an experimental proposal that modifies Messiaen’s monumental piano work dedicated to bird songs. In my version, I add electronics, modify the score using Messiaen’s bird transcription manuscripts, and attempt to imitate bird articulation and phrasing in pianistic technique, using ornithological recordings. This entire project was inspired by the discovery that one of the birds featured in this work, the Numenius arquata, is in danger of extinction. In a way, ecological awareness and the state of these species are integral to this artistic research, which is especially important to me.
You are part of the classical music world, but also the avantgarde, experimental one. How do you see these two, often quite distant, musical universes with their different modi operandi?
I wish they weren’t so distant—I would love for them not to be. In my work, I try to build bridges between the two, and I deeply admire artists from both universes. Often, people who are very open and experimental in their artistic work and who have a progressive vision paradoxically hold narrow-minded ideas and prejudices toward other ways of making music. And needless to say, the classical music world can be extremely insular. However, I think that these differences are becoming increasingly blurred today, and I believe that this shift is a political act. Yes, political. It’s about rejecting elitism and prejudices and listening to each other.
Besides your PhD, what are your current projects?
I’m currently involved in several solo and chamber projects.
Among my solo projects, one that stands out is “A light stung the darkness I” by Engin Daglik, a piece I perform for SHAPE+. (https://youtu.be/YHrm3NWlqSY )
Another project, “Dichotomia Tactus”, is a piano and multimedia performance in collaboration with composer Carmen Kleykens, where we blur the dichotomy between listening, gesture, and touch using tactile and light sensors, video, and electronics. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKktA8ePFRw )
The Syntagma Piano Duo and I have a two-piano and electronics project where we perform contemporary music by Brigitta Muntendorf, pay tribute to Wendy Carlos, and reference Kafka and Taylor Swift… (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xVtjphFy_s )
I also frequently perform with Ensemble L’Imaginaire and Ensemble Linea here in Strasbourg, collaborating with incredible colleagues on fascinating repertoire… I additionally work with the Barcelona Modern Ensemble, Semblance, Duo Ekriktiko… you can check out our work online.
Interview Lucia Udvardyova
Photo Festival Ensems