Xabier Casal Born in Santiago de Compostela, Xabier Casal has established a solid career as a soloist and chamber musician. He has won over a dozen international competitions and is regularly invited to perform at festivals across Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Mexico, and China.
As a soloist, he has appeared with orchestras such as the Real Filharmonía de Galicia, RTVE Symphony Orchestra, Castilla y León Symphony Orchestra, and the Youth Orchestra and Choir of the Community of Madrid, under the baton of conductors including Diego Masson, Alejandro Posada, Santiago Serrate, and Sebastián Mariné. His accolades include First Prize at the 8th Intercentros Melómano National Performance Competition, the 3rd International Saxophone Competition “Ramón Guzmán,” and Third Prize at the Haverhill Sinfonia Soloist Competition.
Deeply committed to music education, Xabier regularly gives saxophone and chamber music masterclasses around the world. Since 2013, he has led a long-standing educational project in Spain as part of the annual Encontro Galego do Saxofón, and has been invited to institutions such as the University of East Anglia (UK), the Autonomous University of Zacatecas (Mexico), the Yamaha Saxophone Center (Taiwan), and numerous Spanish conservatories, including those in Vigo, A Coruña, Seville, and the Balearic Islands.
Xabier is a founding member of Fukio, a saxophone quartet established in 2008 that has become his main artistic focus in recent years. Fukio has performed at major festivals and concert series including Tripclubbing at the Kölner Philharmonie, Intersonanzen Potsdam, Young Euro Classics Berlin, Spitzentöne Köln, Andernacher Musiktage, Mosel Musikfestival, Junge Elite at Schloss Fulda, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Música en Segura, Festival Monteleón, Fundación Juan March, and ENSEMS, among many others. In 2020, they were selected by Spain’s FestClásica association for a national concert tour.
Fukio has received top prizes at several major competitions, including the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Competition in Berlin, the Karlsruhe Contemporary Music Competition, the COOP Music Awards in Milan, and the 20th Concours International de Musique de Chambre d’Illzach (France). The ensemble has collaborated with leading composers such as Georges Aperghis, Fabien Lévy, and Georg Friedrich Haas, and has premiered over twenty new works in recent years.
Xabier currently teaches saxophone at the Conservatori Superior de Música de les Illes Balears, while continuing to develop his international performing career.
