Articles

#1 Stamping a Message Inspired by his philatelic hobby, Robert Casteels looks at the fabrication process of Singapore Post's stamps, and explores the message conveyed by those commemorating Singapore's Asian Civilisations Museum and the Peranakan Museum. The article was published in the magazine of the Friends of the Museum Singapore, PASSAGE, 2025 issue I ISSUE It’s Elemental!, page 7-8. #2 The lost world of colonial postage stamps Dr Robert Casteels explores the agency of Southeast Asia colonial-era postage stamps The article was published in the magazine of the Friends of the Museum Singapore, PASSAGE, 2026 issue I ISSUE I

This 2021 project was a collaborative effort between the National Arts Council, the National Gallery, Singapore and six Singaporean composers. They wrote for double vocal quartet a cappella. The title of their works is mentioned in between brackets: Dr Ho Chee-Kong (Light and Shade/ Temple),Dr Hoh Chung Shih (Permutasyon ng Pagmumuni-muni II), Dr Joyce Beetuan Koh (That Sunny Feeling), Dr John Sharpley (Illusion of Self), Cultural Medallion Eric Watson (The Sea Calls) and Dr Robert Casteels (Gamelan). All pieces were performed in concert, recorded in a professional recording studio, published in one book at the National Library (ISMN: 979-090-0-9016549-1-4) with programme notes and the picture of the painting that was the source of inspiration. In his essay entitled The sound of colour, Casteels offers a personal approach to the six compositions.

Pictures at an (SG) Exhibition is a 2019 transdisciplinary project conceived and led by Robert Casteels, funded by the Creation Grant of the National Arts Council and executed in collaboration with the National Gallery, Singapore. Ten upcoming Singaporean composers were commissioned to compose a piece of chamber music inspired by Singaporean paintings of their choice that belong to the collection of the National Gallery. The compositions were premiered next to the paintings, recorded. The score was published. In his essay entitled The Sound of Colour, Casteels analyses the relationship between painting and music in the context of these ten compositions.

This article examines postcolonial affect as expressed in the Belgian-born Singaporean citizen Robert Casteels’s L’(autre) fille aux cheveux de Bali (2002), in which it is shown that sonic identities (gamelan and Chinese instruments; quotations from Debussy and Bartók) give way to the ambiguous, modulating relationality of dis/affiliation, dis/affinity and a/ proximity. Micro-changes in musical affect lead to the loosening of enculturated or acculturated emotional and perceptual responses associated with established identities. Musical affect thus serves as a corrective to neatly differentiated identities that are constructed in narratives of imperial exoticism, postcolonial autonomy or multicultural harmony. The article was first published by the Journal of the Royal Music Association in 2015 (Volume 140, No. 2, page 417 -443) and published online by Cambridge University Press on 1-1-2020.

Concert in collaboration with the Singapore community for the first anniversary of the Old Parliament Arts House in 2005 with Singapore’s premiere Ligeti’s Poème symphonique for 100 metronomes. The picture shows the metronomes provided by the community.

Facsimile of the handwritten analysis of Quadrangolo opus 10

¿Rəsiliəncə! - Film by Tejas Ewing and Deepesh Vasudev on an original soundtrack by Robert Resilience_online_2020 details the digital online presentation of nine original interconnected new works by a team of artists as well as the live streaming of nine premiere performances

To provide a backdrop for Sound Journey, Lye first explores Casteels, the man himself - from his interest in non-tempered tuning systems and cross-disciplinary experimentations, to his writing of symphonies, to why Casteels’ works seem to force together very disparate types of instruments. From this understanding, Lye then observes that Sound Journey presented yet another opportunity for Casteels to “forge new ground by writing for an instrument that… (is) as yet non-existent”, and describes the work as a “journey of exploration into how the sound produced by the instrument would develop as work on it progresses”. In conclusion, the reader is left anticipating for more of Casteels’ works in the future, even if they may be “deliberately obscure and difficult to understand”.

16 hours and thirty minutes of verbal interviews of R Casteels recorded by Teo Kian Giap from 4 to 17 February 2015 at the Oral History Centre of the National Archives of Singapore. Search "Casteels" @ https://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/

Through an analysis of Casteels' major works, Lee proves that Casteels is indeed “one of those composers whose music makes an immediate impact on the audience” -- Casteels breaks out of traditional concepts, such as by combining a formalist stance with "new musicology" and extramusicality, juxtaposing differing ethnic instruments and differing ideas, as well as adapting ideas from nature and life. From the “deconstruction of high art' that often occurs in Casteels' music, Casteels has been able to 'invert values and create new soundscapes for the contemporary world”.