Xoan Castineira - Managing Director, J.S.Bach Foundation (St.Gallen)
Xoán Elías Castineira (*1983) has lived in Switzerland since 2013. He studied piano in Barcelona (Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya, Academia Marshall), Berlin (Universität der Künste), and Chicago (Chicago College of Performing Arts) before going on to complete a master’s degree in musicology at the Royal Holloway (University of London). He received vital artistic impulses from legendary performers such as Alicia de Larrocha (piano) and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (lieder accompaniment).
After several years of performing as a concert artist and teaching, he gained professional experience in cultural management through opportunities at Deutsche Grammophon (production and marketing) and the Musikkollegium Winterthur (orchestra management). Today, he is managing director of the J.S. Bach St. Gallen AG (an ancillary company of the J.S. Bach Foundation) where he is responsible for steering the cultural organisation founded by the entrepreneur Konrad Hummler and the conductor Rudolf Lutz. In this role, Xoán Castiñeira is especially fascinated by the organisation’s interplay of local roots and international reach as well as the dual demand for excellent quality in both artistic and business matters. During his tenure, he has positioned a cultural brand with great global impact, not least thanks to the development of the streaming site bachipedia.org. He has been instrumental in developing traditional and digital concert formats including the summer festival «Appenzeller Bachtage», and succeeded in leading a complex change process in the organisation, transforming the operations of a non-profit foundation into a public limited company.
Xoán Castiñeira holds an Executive MBA in General Management from the University of St Gallen (2018). In his leisure time, Xoán Castiñeira remains devoted to playing the piano and still occasionally performs as a soloist or in chamber music ensembles. To relax, he enjoys a variety of sporting activities in Switzerland’s mountains and lakes, and in his homeland of Galicia.
After several years of performing as a concert artist and teaching, he gained professional experience in cultural management through opportunities at Deutsche Grammophon (production and marketing) and the Musikkollegium Winterthur (orchestra management). Today, he is managing director of the J.S. Bach St. Gallen AG (an ancillary company of the J.S. Bach Foundation) where he is responsible for steering the cultural organisation founded by the entrepreneur Konrad Hummler and the conductor Rudolf Lutz. In this role, Xoán Castiñeira is especially fascinated by the organisation’s interplay of local roots and international reach as well as the dual demand for excellent quality in both artistic and business matters. During his tenure, he has positioned a cultural brand with great global impact, not least thanks to the development of the streaming site bachipedia.org. He has been instrumental in developing traditional and digital concert formats including the summer festival «Appenzeller Bachtage», and succeeded in leading a complex change process in the organisation, transforming the operations of a non-profit foundation into a public limited company.
Xoán Castiñeira holds an Executive MBA in General Management from the University of St Gallen (2018). In his leisure time, Xoán Castiñeira remains devoted to playing the piano and still occasionally performs as a soloist or in chamber music ensembles. To relax, he enjoys a variety of sporting activities in Switzerland’s mountains and lakes, and in his homeland of Galicia.
