bio
Daniel Santiago Castellanos is a composer, vocalist, and pianist based in New York City. His music has been described as “serene and attractively harmonized” by the NY Times and “absolutely gorgeous” by BBC Radio. His composition for mezzo-soprano and piano, Death is nothing at all, won first prize at the 2019 NYC songSLAM competition. Ensembles that have performed his music include the Semiosis Quartet, The Orchestra Now (TŌN), Da Capo Ensemble, JACK Quartet, The Living Earth Show and The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys. He received two bachelor’s degrees from Bard College Conservatory of Music in 2018, and received his MM in composition from Mannes School of Music | The New School in May 2023.
As a vocalist, Castellanos makes his living as a professional choral singer. He sings as both a tenor and countertenor with The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, where he used to sing as a treble. He has also sung with several different ensembles, including C4 Ensemble, The Salvatones, and Bard Festival Chorale. He has performed as a soloist through other freelance work.
As a pianist, Castellanos has performed several of his own compositions in concert. He has also worked as a professional collaborative pianist for Bard College’s Opera Workshop, with mezzo-soprano Chloë Zimmerman, cellist Raman Ramakrishnan, and emerging clarinetist Yelin Wang. Aside from performing, he takes pride teaching piano lessons to students of all ages.
When he isn’t making music, he enjoys cooking, walking his dog, RoRo, playing Balatro, thinking about the inevitable heat death of the universe, and finding free parking in his neighborhood.
Daniel Santiago Castellanos 