Alex Catona.

Alex was born in Romania in 1975. He studied classical music with emphasis on cello at the renowned “George Enescu National Music School”. He left Romania in 1989 to pursue his studies in Canada at the Claude Watson Arts Program where he studied Composition with Dr. Ph. J. McConnell. He then studied cello at Western University with Malcolm Tait and continued his education at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, Germany, with Young-Chang Cho as his cello teacher. It is there that he finally gave in to his passion for improvisation, jazz, composing and mixing creative genres and where he begins practicing independent filmmaking and screenwriting.

In that span he collaborates as composer and performer with Samir Akika, Lorca Renoux, Markus Michailowski, Norbert Steinwartz, Florentin Chiran and Hans Klohe, among others.

Subsequently, he is invited by Rui Horta to attend Collaboration In Arts at the O- Espaco-do-Tempo in Portugal in 2004. This provides the impulse for a new beginning for Alex. It is here he devises his first full length work, “tell me, in my ear” a cinematic theatre performance. He tours Portugal, England and Germany with this production and is called to join the cast of Vincent Dance Theatre in 2005. He collaborates with VDT for three productions where he performs as well as composes the soundtrack of: “Broken Chords”, “If we go on” and “Motherland”.

After “Motherland”, Alex departs Europe to settle down in Costa Rica with his family. It is here that he is most prolific as a film director, film composer as well as choreographer and creates/composes for numerous nationally and internationally acclaimed and awarded productions such as: “A ojos cerrados”, “Gato negro”, “The killers”, “Las manzanas”, “Spring sacrifice”, “FJB”, ”Sibelius”, “Versus”, “Dos fridas”, “Rio sucio”, “Para mirar un eclipse”, “Kaspar before Hauser”, “Way”, “PT”, “Pop Demo” and many others.

He currently resides on Galiano Island, in Canada, with his family and continues to be very active as a film composer, experimental musician and educator.