Joaquin Nin-Culmell was a composer and music instructor at UC Berkeley. Born in Berlin in 1908, he began his music education in Barcelona and later studied piano in Paris at the Schola Cantorum. In 1939, Nin-Culmell moved to the United States to take a position in the Williams College music department (1940-50) and later at UC Berkeley (1950-74). His music was in the Spanish folk tradition but with modern harmonies and asymmetrical rhythms. In this oral history, he discusses his Tonadas for Piano, the Dedication Mass for St. Mary’s Cathedral, the music life in San Francisco, ballet music ""El Burlador de Sevilla"" and ""Le reve de Cyrano,"" and his opera ""La Celestina,"" which he and the King of Spain talked about premiering in Madrid shortly before his death in 2004. This interview is part of a group of interviews documenting composers of the twentieth century.