Josep Castanyer Alonso is a professional cellist in the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. On the side, he turns pop songs into classical fugues, on the piano.
Isak Friberg and I followed him for six months while he composed his version of "Never Gonna Give You Up" for his YouTube channel.
Josep was born in Barcelona and started playing piano and cello very young. He finished high school two years early to study music in Cologne, Germany, and become a professional cellist. At 21 he did what most musicians only dream of: he got a permanent position as a cellist in the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the youngest member of the entire orchestra.
It was all he had ever wanted. But when it happened that early, it left him with a question: what now?
So he started writing classical versions of pop songs, like Barbie Girl and the Angry Birds theme, on the piano.
The film is about his perfectionism, his digital stage fright and the performance anxiety that comes with putting your work out there.
Making it taught me a lot about classical music, a world I knew existed but not much more. We got to see the inside of the Stockholm Concert Hall, the big blue building in central Stockholm that has always had a "cultural elite only" feeling to me.
It was a lot of fun to make, and I think the story is worth your time whether you're into classical music or not.
This film is No. 6 in 100 Documentaries. Read more on the film's own page: Duly Noted.