Brotons was born in Barcelona, studied flute with his father and completed his musical studies at the Barcelona Conservatory of Music, where he earned advanced degrees in flute, composition and orchestral conducting. In 1985 he won a Fulbright scholarship and moved to the United States, where he obtained a doctorate in music at Florida State University.
From 1977 to 1985 he was flute soloist of the Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and a member of the Ciutat de Barcelona Orchestra (1981-1985).
As a composer he has written more than 170 works, mainly for orchestra and chamber ensembles, and has won many composition prizes. He has also received numerous composition commissions. Many of his works have been published and recorded on several CDs in both Europe and the USA by record labels such as Naxos, Auvidis, Albany Records, Claves, Harmonia Mundi, RNE, and Discmedi.
In Spain he has served as the principal conductor of the Balearic Islands Symphony Orchestra “Ciutat de Palma”, the Vallès Symphony Orchestra and the Barcelona Symphonic Band. Currently he is the principal conductor of the Sant Cugat Symphony Orchestra. In the USA, he has been the principal conductor of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (Washington) since 1991, a work for which he has received the Arts Council award granted by Clark County and the city of Vancouver (2005) and the Lifetime Achievement Award (2020).
He has been guest conductor of orchestras in the Czech Republic, Germany, South Africa, Poland, South Korea, China, Israel, Italy, Belgium, Uruguay, Venezuela, USA, Bulgaria and Spain.
He currently balances a busy schedule as an orchestra conductor with the composition of all kinds of commissioned works. He is also a professor of orchestral conducting at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC). During the 2016-2017 season he was composer-in-residence at the Palau de la Música Catalana. In 2024 he was awarded the Felip Pedrell Prize by the Musical Association of Master Directors in recognition of his career and his work promoting Catalan music and culture.
