Born in 1988 in Valencia, Josep Planells Schiaffino studied composition at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin. His works have been performed by a variety of ensembles, including the Ensemble Modern, the Ensemble of the Lucerne Festival Academy, the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, and the German Radio Philharmonic Saarbrücken. Planells Schiaffino received the Hanns Eisler Performance Prize in 2015 for his work “Vier Stücke.” He was also awarded the German Academic Exchange Service Prize in 2013 and third prize at the 2014 Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Academy Competition held by the Berlin University of the Arts. He has acquired experience as a conductor with Fred Butkiewicz in Berlin, Peter Rundel in Porto, and Peter Eötvös in Budapest and Munich.