Described by Rondo Magazine as "probably the most successful German cellist of the present day", Raphaela Gromes has been an exclusive artist at Sony Classical since 2016 and convinces audiences and press with "elegance, commitment, technical perfection, expressiveness and a range of variations in dynamics and vibrato" (Le Diapason).
She attracted attention early on with intelligently designed programmes and exciting world premiere recordings, for example with the rediscovery of Offenbach's "Hommage á Rossini", Richard Strauss's first cello sonata, or the cello concertos by Julius Klengel and Matilde Capuis. Her recordings have received many awards, including the OPUS Klassik, the Diapason D ́Or and the German Record Critics' Prize.
For some time now, Raphaela Gromes has also been increasingly committed to music by female composers that has been unjustly forgotten, on her globally celebrated album "Femmes" she presented 23 female composers from the Middle Ages to the present day, topping the German classical charts for months.
In addition to performances at the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Tonhalle Zurich, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the BOZAR in Brussels and the KKL Lucerne, tours have also taken her to the USA, China, Korea and Central America. She plays with orchestras such as the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, the NDR Orchestra Hamburg, the DSO Berlin, the Festival Strings Lucerne and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and works with conductors such as Julian Rachlin, Kent Nagano, Pietari Inkinen, Roberto Gonzales – Monjas and Anna Rakitina.
After her junior studies in Leipzig with Peter Bruns, Raphaela Gromes continued her music studies in Munich with Wen-Sinn Yang and in Vienna with Reinhard Latzko in 2010 and received important impulses at master classes with David Geringas, Yo-Yo Ma, Wolfgang Boettcher, Kristin van der Goltz and Anner Bylsma.
Since her studies, Raphaela Gromes has formed a permanent duo with the pianist Julian Riem, who also works as an arranger and thus lays the foundation for the diversity of her programs, for example with harp, voice or saxophone quartet. Their performances are celebrated as an "asset for the music world" because they would "redefine instrumental duetting in their own way": "Gromes and Riem make chamber music in a symbiotic way" (Wilhelm Sinkowicz, Die Presse).
Several works have already been dedicated to the duo Gromes – Riem, including works by Johannes Wiederhofer, Kevin Volans, Dorothea Hofmann and Igor Loboda ("Arcobaleno della vita", a double concerto for cello, piano and string orchestra).
As an ambassador for SOS Children's Villages worldwide and the José Carreras Foundation, Raphaela Gromes is committed to bringing hope, joy and comfort through her music to places where people face difficult challenges. Most recently, she went to Kyiv in solidarity with Ukraine to give a concert in the Philharmonic Hall with the Ukrainian National Orchestra. She also recorded her new CD with the Ukrainian National Orchestra and Volodymyr Sirenko with Dvorak's Cello Concerto and works by Ukrainian composers and will also perform with them in autumn 2024 at the Berlin Philharmonie, Essen Philharmonic and in Vaduz and Antwerp, among others. In addition to debuts with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana and in Japan, Australia and Taiwan, Raphaela Gromes will also perform various programmes in various formations as Artist in Residence at a major German music festival in 2025.
Raphaela Gromes plays a cello by Carlo Bergonzi from 1740, which is made available to her by private hands.
season 2024/2025
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