Carles Cristobal (b. 1976) comes from near Barcelona and began his bassoon studies with Joseph Borras at the Conservatori Professional de Musica de Badalona. In 2004 he completed a diploma in early music at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Claude Wassmer and Donna Agrell.
Since then he has been active as a freelance bassoonist and maintains an intensive collaboration with various ensembles such as the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble (Thomas Hengelbrock), Hesperion XXI and Le Concert de Nations (Jordi Savall), Les Talents Lyriques (Christophe Rousset), Basel Chamber Orchestra, Collegium Vocale Gent (Philippe Herreweghe), Cafe Zimmermann, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, La Cetra Baroque Orchestra (Andrea Marcon) - to name a few.
His passion for the entire instrumentarium of the bassoon family, from the early Renaissance to the late Romantic period, makes his repertoire very broad and leads to close cooperation with specialized instrument makers. In addition to his work as a bassoonist, he leads research in the areas of musical practice, the history of his instrument, and repertoire. Currently, he is particularly interested in Spanish cantatas of the 18th century with obbligato bajón (dulcian) that have fallen into oblivion.
Carles gained his first pedagogical experience as a teacher of historical bassoon at the Aula de Musica Antiga de Girona (2007-2017). In 2018, he became professor of basson ancien at the Haute École de Musique de Genève, and since 2017 he has been guest lecturer of dulcian at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. In September 2021 he became lecturer for historical bassoon at the SCB.