CASILDA REGUEIRO
/ STORYTELLER
Casilda Regueiro
Like a meiga, a Galician witch, from her native land of spells and enchantments, Casilda brings back from oblivion stories from the oral tradition.
After years of singing, dancing and acquiring solid training in theatre, Casilda brings stories to life by going beyond simple narration.
She uses her voice, her expressiveness and her presence to transport the audience to imaginary worlds where anything is possible.
CASILDA
1990s
Casilda began her professional storytelling career more than thirty years ago alongside Tim Bowley, a British storyteller of international renown. She owes to him the art of telling stories with simplicity and authenticity.
Together they traveled the world for ten years, performing in all kinds of venues and before all kinds of audiences.
They toured Spain, Europe and Latin America, and even reached Tunisia, Istanbul and India to promote the Spanish language in collaboration with Instituto Cervantes.
They told stories in bilingual versions in all official language schools in Spain, at all oral storytelling festivals on the Iberian Peninsula, at numerous book fairs, in dozens of schools and high schools, libraries, hospitals, theaters, prisons, churches and even in caves.
2000s
Casilda has performed more than two thousand shows across several continents and has taught numerous storytelling workshops for amateurs, professional storytellers, teachers, museum guides, and companies in the watchmaking, perfumery and pharmaceutical industries.
She performs solo or accompanied by musicians, in French, English, or Spanish, constantly seeking new stories with deep meaning — maps for the soul.
Over the years, she has gathered a large repertoire of oral tradition tales from different cultures around the world, allowing her to tell stories to children, adolescents, and adult audiences. She chooses her stories according to the age of each audience.
2010s
In 2009, she introduced the concept of bilingual storytelling to Switzerland. Spanish, English, French and German are the languages she uses to share stories.
She completed four tours through secondary schools in Geneva with bilingual shows in English and French, followed by ten tours through primary schools.
She regularly performs at the La Cour de Contes Festival in Plan-les-Ouates and in municipal libraries.
Today
The world of music comes to her through musical tales in collaboration with the Orchestre de Lancy-Geneva. This began a great adventure in which word and music are intertwined — first with the OLG under Roberto Sawicki’s direction, then with the Terpsycordes Quartet (first prize at the Geneva competition in 2001), and more recently with the OSR Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in “Family Concerts” and “Concerts for Small Ears” at Victoria Hall.
“Today I seek to tell stories that inspire and give meaning to new generations, that give them hope — not with the goal of changing the world, but so that the turbulent world in which we live does not destroy innocence, sensitivity, vulnerability, and above all, humanism.”
2026
Crève Coeur Theater
/ Geneva
2026
Genthod Cultural Center — Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
/ Geneva
2025
Théâtre Saint Gervais. With Néfissa Bénouniche and Deirdre Foster. Fête du Théâtre
/ Geneva
2025
High schools — Tour of the secondary schools of the canton
/ Geneva
2025
Les 6 Toits Hall— Geneva Chamber Orchestra OCG
/ Geneva
2024
Geisendorf Hall — With the Terpsycordes Quartet
/ Geneva
2024
Nyon Castle — Storytelling weekend at the castle
/ Nyon
2023
Le Commun Hall and Pâquis Primary School— With Yann Marussich, performer
/ Geneva
2023
Yverdon Castle— Tales for the Night of Museums
/ Yverdon
2023
La Parfumerie Theater— With Théâtre Spirale
/ Geneva
2022
Geisendorf Hall — With the Terpsycordes Quartet
/ Geneva
2022
L’Orangerie Theater
/ Geneva
2022
Victoria Hall — With Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Baba Yaga
/ Geneva
2022
Société de Lecture
/ Geneva
2021
Art and History Museum – Exhibition: For the Gallery: Fashion and Portraiture
/ Geneva
2021
UNESCO — Geneva Peace Week
/ Geneva
2020
UN, Palais des Nations, room XX, Spanish Language day
/ Geneva
2019
Conservatoire de Musique de Nyon — Avec le Quatuor Terpsycordes
/ Nyon
2019
Société de Lecture
/ Geneva
2019
Victoria Hall — « Peter and the Wolf » with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
/ Geneva
2019
MEG Museum of Ethnography, « La Fabrique de Contes » exhibition
/ Geneva
2019
Geisendorf Hall— With the Terpsycordes Quartet
/ Geneva
2018
Goyescas Festival, Spanish stories with guitar
/ Geneva
2017
Les Salons Theater, with the Lancy Geneva Orchestra
/ Geneva
2016
UN, Palais des Nations, room XX, Spanish Language day
/ Geneva
2015
Forum de Meyrin Library, Meyrin
/ Geneva
2014
Bohr Foundation, Japanese stories
/ Geneva
2013
Rath Museum - on the occasion of the exhibition « Fascination of Lebanon »
/ Geneva
2013 - 2026
Bibliothèques Municipales de Genève
/ Geneva
2012 - 2026
MAH Museum of Art and History of Geneva
/ Geneva
2012 - 2026
14 years of children’s shows at the Société de Lecture
/ Geneva
2010 - 2022
Twelve consecutive tours of the primary schools of Geneva
/ Geneva
2009
Tour of 40 English French shows at the high schools of the canton
/ Geneva
2009
Pitoëff Theater- La Fureur de Lire, Alice in Wonderland
/ Geneva
2008 - 2016
Forum de Meyrin Library
/ Geneva
2007 - 2022
Nine editions of the « La Cour des Contes » festival, Plan-les-Ouates
/ Geneva
2007 / 08 / 11
The penitentiary of Champ-Dollon
/ Geneva
2007
International storytelling festival « Il était une fois » with Henry Gougaud,
/ Freiburg
2007
University of Bosphorus, Istanbul
/ Turkey
2006
Cervantes Institute, Tunisia
/ Tunisia
2006
The book fair in Kolkata and University of New Delhi
/ India
2005
The Night of the Story in Switzerland, Natural Science Museum
/ Geneva
2004
La Parfumerie Theater - « De Bouche à Oreille » Storytelling Festival
/ Geneva
2004
The penitentiary of Las Palmas, Gran Canaria
/ Spain
2004
Tour of the secondary schools of Lanzarote, Canary Islands
/ Spain
2004
Forum of Cultures 2004, 42 consecutive days of performances, Barcelona
/ Spain
2003
The International Storytelling Festival, Arzo, Tessin,
/ Switzerland
2003
University of Coimbra
/ Portugal
2002
University of Medellín and University of Bogotá
/ Colombia
2000
Feira das Linguas, Lisbon
/ Portugal
2000
The International Festival of Classical Theatre in Almagro, Ciudad Real
/ Spain
1998
Storytelling Marathon of Guadalajara
/ Spain
CAREER
Among the 2,000 or so shows I have given, here is an overview of the most important ones.
Stories from oral tradition have been passed down through the centuries, from mouth to mouth, transmitting the wisdom of humanity. They have essential messages to convey to us and tell us about the challenges that, sooner or later, we all have to face in life. For me, stories are like guides.
Yes, exactly. These treasures of oral tradition came to me by chance, and I feel it is my duty to share them with others. Of course, many of the stories in my repertoire can be found in books but reading them is not the same as hearing them from a storyteller. When we listen to them being told, we also receive the energy of the person, their feelings, their images, their emotions and, above all, their humanity. It is a unique feeling of communion with the other, of sharing in the deepest sense of the word. Something ancestral awakens in us because telling and listening are the primary forms of communication between human beings.
Some stories I found in collections of oral tradition tales, such as those by Henri Gougaud, Antonio Almodóvar, and other French and Spanish authors. But above all, I received a magnificent legacy from the years I worked alongside Tim Bowley, who made an excellent selection of oral tradition stories from different cultures around the world, all filled with wisdom. The legends of King Arthur, Native American tales, Celtic stories from Ireland and Scotland, European fairy tales, as well as stories from Zen Buddhist, Sufi, Arab, Chinese, Japanese, and Indian traditions. It is a rich and varied repertoire in which all the stories have something in common: they are like maps to help us find our way in life.
I love languages, and for me, language is not an obstacle to telling a good story. There are many ways of telling a story. My style is to evoke images using simple words, going straight to the essence, without too many details or indulging in the beauty of language as a writer might do. This style allows listeners to create their own images and to retain what resonates most deeply with them at that particular moment in their lives, and it allows me to tell stories in several languages.
Not really. I was already 30 years old when I had my first contact with storytelling, when I met Tim Bowley, an English storyteller of international renown. He invited me to perform his shows on stage, and that was how I entered the world of storytelling. With his 35 years of experience, and after touring with him the most important storytelling venues in Spain and abroad, I accumulated a great deal of experience. I worked with him for seven years and then began my solo career.
I have a solid theatrical background, ten years of dance training, two years of classical singing, and extensive experience in voice work and physical expression. Alongside Tim Bowley, I learned the essential keys to good storytelling. But above all, I have been trained in the school of life, and it is experience that now allows me to embody characters and convey deep emotions to those who listen to me.
1998, the Guadalajara Storytelling Marathon, one of the most emblematic storytelling festivals in Spain. Tim and I began telling stories at the Palacio del Infantado, in front of an audience of 2,000 people, with a deafening background noise. And suddenly, an overwhelming silence fell, and everyone began to listen attentively—perhaps because it was something new to hear a bilingual performance. Two thousand minds began to imagine, to travel together! It is the most intense moment I have experienced in my career.
I don’t recall having had truly bad experiences while storytelling. Sometimes it was very difficult to tell stories in secondary schools to groups of teenagers who did not want to be there or listen. It felt strange, like a waste of energy. But over the years I came to understand that, by choosing the right stories adapted to each age group, even the most reluctant audiences inevitably end up letting themselves be carried away. Stories have that power.
It comes from an experience my father lived through. He was ten years old and swimming in the ocean when he was caught in a whirlpool. He was about to drown when a woman on the beach saw, in the distance, a hand emerging from the surface. She threw herself into the water and helped him get out. That woman, whose name was Casilda, saved his life, and my father decided that when he grew up, he would give that name to one of his daughters.
