Oscar Pascasio

Pianist, recording artist and composer

Spain

Author

About

Oscar Pascasio Monzon, teacher, pianist and composer, finished his Higher Degree studies in 1998, at the Superior Conservatory of Santiago de Compostela. (Spain)

               Since 1994 he has participated in numerous concerts as a solist or accompanist pianist in Spain and Germany. In May 2013 he published his first album, "La ribera del Pisuerga" and in 2015 he made his international leap, becoming part of the network of American artists Enlightened Piano Radio. In 2016 he received the Akademia Music Awards in the category Best Instrumental Album in Los Angeles. Thanks to this award "La ribera del Pisuerga" is promoted and it starts playing on radios from all over the world, reaching in 2017 the number 1 position in Power XR Radio Network (Los Angeles), staying several weeks in that position.

In November of 2017 it leaves to the market its second disc "Sensations" and very soon it enters the lists of New Age of the United States and Great Britain arriving at position number 2 in One World Music (UK), the most important New Age list of Europe. In 2018 the album "Sensaciones" is nominated for "Best album of the year" by Enlightened Piano Awards (USA). The 3 finalists gave a concert at the Berliner Philarmonie, venue of the Berlin Philharmonic.

In 2019 he won the bronze medal at the Global Music Awards for his "Magic" theme. He also composed a song for the Spain Company “Digital mantenimientos”, a song that was presented at the Sala Gaudí in La Pedrera (Barcelona). Currently, more than 100.000 people listen to Oscar Pascasio´s music on Spotify every month and his music has already reached 2 million streams on all digital platforms.

Sheets

Interview

What does music mean to you personally?

Music has always been with me, from a very young age I watched my grandfather play, who was a musician and very soon he gave me my first piano lessons. Since then music has always accompanied me, as a teacher, a pianist and now as a composer.

Do you agree that music is all about fantasy?

Of course, music is creativity, it is feeling and also fantasy. The listener enters a world of fantasy and imagination when listening to our songs.

If you were not a professional musician, what would you have been?

It was always clear to me that I wanted to be a musician, although my other passion is finance. He would surely have studied business administration and management.

The classical music audience is getting old, are you worried about the future?

It is true that my audience is elderly and there are very few young people at concerts. Young people do not usually listen to classical music, although over the years they mature and listen to and discover classical music. I think it will always be heard because people go through different stages in our lives and at some point we discovered classical music and fell in love with it.

What do you envision the role of music to be in the 21st century? Do you see that there is a transformation of this role?

Music has always been important and in this quarantine period even more so. If we are happy we listen to music, if we are sad we listen to music. We have looked for concerts online and we have listened to a lot of music which shows that it is more important than many believe.

Do you think that the musician today needs to be more creative? What is the role of creativity in the musical process for you?

Music is changing, now other piano sounds (felt piano) are being sought and experimentation is not stopped. We see how new instruments such as drums or electric guitar are introduced into an orchestra. Evolution is constant and musicians also evolve. I compose romantic music and my listeners enjoy it, now I am also trying new sounds and my latest compositions are of felt piano looking for a muted and relaxing sound without ceasing to be romantic.

Do you think we as musicians can do something to attract the younger generation to music concerts? How would you do this?

As I am a teacher I talk a lot with my students, I send them to listen to new composers and I give them scores of modern composers. They always like them, so they also cheer up because they see that classical music is not just Beethoven or Mozart. I encourage them to compose and I use myself as an example since they have seen me grow from 0 and discover that with effort dreams can be fulfilled. If we get them to love classical music, it is easier for them to go to a concert.

Tell us about your creative process. What is your favorite piece (written by you) and how did you start working on it?

Inspiration comes when you least expect it. I have composed songs (La ribera del Pisuerga, Sientiéndome parte de ti...) while walking through Nature and also inspired by other musicians such as my song Magia that is born after listening to Ennio Morricone. I compose a lot of songs in my head, I imagine them and then I go to the piano and start to develop them. I need to know what I want to create, I have to be clear about what kind of song I want to create and that's how inspiration comes to me. My favorite song is Waiting for you, it is a theme that defines my style very well: romantic, relaxing and melodic. It has a story, a student was slow to get to his class so I started playing the piano and it was a magical moment. I created my most listened song and without a doubt one of my favorites.

Can you give some advice for young people who want to discover classical music for themselves?

Fortunately now we have YouTube, Spotify ... platforms where it is very easy to discover classical music, whether of the great classical masters or new artists. I always advise my students to listen to this type of music, sometimes I write them a list of composers so that they listen and discover them and they tend to always like them.

Do you think about the audience when composing?

No, for me the most important thing is that I get excited about my music. If I can get excited I know that my audience will also get excited when they hear my music at a concert.

What projects are coming up? Do you experiment in your projects?

I have several releases in the coming months, I will release a mini album of relaxing classical music, music by the great masters Beethoven, Schumann, Mendelssohn ... I will also participate in 2 compilations from 2 record labels soon.