Graduated in History and Music Sciences from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (2004) and doctorate from the same university (2014) with a thesis on the catalog of the work of the musician Pep Ventura that deserved the recognition of an extraordinary award.

His lines of research are basically two:

• Composers, performers and Catalan musical institutions, which studies the proper names of Catalan musical heritage in a chronology that spans from the 17th century to the contemporary era. The objectives are: the localization and analysis of the musical production of male and female composers in archives and libraries and the preparation of inventories and catalogs of work; the biographical studies of proper names within the aesthetic, social and cultural framework of their time; the critical edition of scores for their musical interpretation; the heritage recovery and social return of these musical works.


• Music in the cultural transformation of Catalan society, which studies the reception of music and analyzes the ideological, political and cultural changes in Catalan society from the 17th century to the present day. The objectives are: the study of music and its actors in festive and ritualized situations, the study of various specific musical and dance genres; the relationship between music and visual and performing arts, literature, architecture and urban planning; musical pedagogy and the impact of educational institutions on social and cultural changes.

• Ayats, J., Costal, A. (2020). The Cors de Clavé. Popular music, republicanism, and social regeneration. A E. Martí-López (ed.). The Routledge Hispanic Studies Companion to Nineteenth-Century Spain (31-49). Londres: Routledge.


• Pujol, J., Pallàs, L., Gay, J., Costal, A. (2019). Solfes, pianos i cornamuses. Un segle d’Escola Municipal de Música d’Olot (1918-2018). Olot: Institut de Cultura d’Olot, col·lecció Pretèrites 3.


• Costal, A. (2018). Això no és una biografia de Pep Ventura. L’Empordà romàntic, revolucionari i espectacular. Figueres: Editorial Gavarres.


• Gay, J., Rabaseda, J., Costal, A. (2016). Xavier Cugat i Mingall. Girona: Ajuntament de Girona, Biografies núm. 4.


• Costal, A. (2013). From Cuba with love: rhythms and revolutions in Spanish popular music in the 19th century. A S. Martínez, H. Fouce (eds.). Made in Spain. Studies in Popular Music. Nova York: Routledge.


• Ayats, J., Costal, A., Gayete, I., Rabaseda, J. (2011). Polyphonies, Bodies and Rhetoric of senses: latin chants in Corsica and the Pyrenees. Transposition. Musique et sciences sociales, 1. https://doi.org/10.4000/transposition.139


• Ayats, J., Costal, A., Gayete, I., Rabaseda, J. (2011). Mattutino e Ufficio delle Tenebre a Calvi. A I. Macchiarella (Ed.). A Tre voci per pensare il mondo. Pratiche polifoniche confraternali in alta Corsica (p. 68-88). Udine: Nota.


• Castillejo, B., Costal, A. (2010-12). Juli Garreta i Arboix (1875-1925). Obra completa II. Sardanes, vols.1-4. Barcelona: Tritó and Diputació de Girona, collection Mestres Gironins.


• Ayats, J., Costal, A., Gayete, I. (2010). Els cantadors del Pallars. Cants religiosos de la tradició oral als Pirineus / Religious Chants of the Oral Tradition in the Pyrinees. Barcelona: Dalmau Editor.


• Costal, A. (2010). Le passé caché. Le côté révolutionnaire et libéral des sardanes oubliées de Pep Ventura: Sardana sobre motivos del Faust et Sardana Can Can. A B. Föllmi, N. Grosch, Schneider, M. (Comp.). Music and the Construction of National Identities in the 19th Century (253-263). Baden-Baden & Bouxwiller: Koerner, Collection d’Études musicologiques, 98.

In addition to teaching degree subjects, since 2019 she has been coordinator and professor of the Master in Musical Research at Esmuc and, since 2022, coordinator of the Cultural and Musical Studies Research Group (GRECUM) of the same institution.

As a musicologist, and in addition to teaching, she is involved in the transfer of scientific knowledge. She was curator of the temporary exhibition Pep Ventura abans del mite. Quan la sardana era un ball de moda (Museu de l’Empordà, 2009) and the virtual exhibit Sardanes (Generalitat de Catalunya, Confederació Sardanista de Catalunya, 2018), and coordinated the exhibition Les músiques dels 1714s (Museu de la Música de Barcelona, 2014). She has collaborated with the Robert Gerhard Center for the promotion and dissemination of Catalan Musical Heritage and with L'Auditori de Barcelona on numerous occasions.

She has also participated in several documentary films, such as Nous dansons sur un volcan (dir. Jordi Vidal, Kalimago productions and Mille et une productions, 2021), Baltasar Samper. El ritme amnèsic (dir. Victòria Morell, Cinètica produccions, 2018) or Bon cop de falç. La història d’un himne (dir. Eloi Aymerich, L’Avenç, Clack, Televisió de Catalunya, La Xarxa, 2014). And regularly collaborates in the program Tots els matins del món and El taller del lutier - Catalunya Música.

As a performer, he has specialized in Catalan music. Currently and since 2007, she is tenor of the Cobla Vila d'Olesa, from Olesa de Montserrat. Previously, from 2000 to 2007, she was tenor of the Cobla Baix Empordà de Palamós.

• edu


• ORCID


• www.costalfornells.cat