Raphaela Gromes
"(...) always moments of pure poetry." (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
Highly virtuosic and swinging, passionate and technically brilliant, versatile and charming - hardly any other cellist inspires his audience like Raphaela Gromes. Whether as a soloist with orchestra, in a duo chamber music or together with a wind quartet, the young cellist always fascinates with her at the same time fantastically demanding and exceptionally light-footed playing.
Her rousing joy of playing is also unmistakable and immediately transfers to her audience. "With the first note she creates a tremendous intimacy, her playing is very personal right from the start, nothing is made," the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" describes her appearance with the Munich Symphony Orchestra 2018, "with a slightly hoarse cello tone she tells the music, she feels it. (...) Gromes inspires with her joy, combines a healthy earthiness with feather-light excursions. In the first cadenza, she tries out a few interesting dissonances, discards them, then presents quite loosely stupendous virtuosity, returns to sound exegesis, and again and again she creates moments of pure poetry.
Raphaela Gromes' performances with her piano partner Julian Riem are celebrated as perfect duets: "In fact, the two of them redefine instrumental duetting in their own way: Gromes and Riem make chamber music in a symbiotic way," enthuses "Die Presse" after her debut at the Wiener Konzerthaus. In addition to their regular duo partner Julian Riem, Gromes' chamber music partners also include Christian Altenburger, Isabelle von Keulen, Alexander Lubimov, Patrick Demenga and Mischa Maisky.
In autumn 2017, "Serenata Italiana" was released, her highly acclaimed first album as an exclusive artist with SONY. Her second SONY CD "Hommage à Rossini", released in November 2018, and her third CD entitled "Offenbach", released in May 2019 to mark the 200th anniversary of the composer's birth, were among the top ten in the classical music charts and received great praise from the press. "Richard Strauss - Cello Sonatas" is the fourth album with her duo partner Julian Riem, released in February 2020. With the original version of the Strauss Sonata op. 6, Raphaela Gromes presents a world premiere recording, just like in her previous albums. Her current CD from October 2020 with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin under Nicholas Carter features cello concertos by Schumann, Klengel (world premiere recording) and the Strauss Romance.
Raphaela Gromes is cultural ambassador of the SOS Children's Villages worldwide.
mehr
Born in 1991, Raphaela Gromes began playing the cello at the age of four. At the age of seven she got her first taste of stage air as an encore to her parents' concert - both also cellists. Her first appearance as a soloist followed in the fall of 2005 with the Cello Concerto by Friedrich Gulda, for which she was enthusiastically praised by both audience and press. As a young student she began her studies at the age of 14 at the Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Hochschule in Leipzig with Peter Bruns and continued them in 2010 with Wen-Sinn Yang at the Musikhochschule in Munich and later with Reinhard Latzko at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunts Wien. She also received important musical inspiration at master classes with renowned cellists such as David Geringas, Yo-Yo Ma, Frans Helmerson, Natalia Gutman, Jens Peter Maintz, László Fenyö, Daniel Müller-Schott, Kristin von der Goltz, Wolfgang Boettcher, Anner Bylsma and Wolfgang Emanuel Schmid.
Raphaela Gromes has recently made her debut at renowned festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, the Ludwigsburg Schlossfestspiele, the Rheingau Musikfestival and the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and has appeared at the Tonhalle Zurich, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Laeiszhalle Hamburg, the Konzerthaus Berlin and the Konzerthaus Vienna. In 20/21 she will make her debuts with the Elbphilharmonie Orchester under Michael Nesterowicz, the Gürzenich Orchester Köln under Michael Sanderling, the hr-Sinfonieorchester, as well as at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and St. Pölten.
Several cello concertos have already been dedicated to her: amongst them cello concertos by Dominik Giesriegl, Valentin Bachmann, the double concerto "Chroma" written for Raphaela Gromes and Cécile Grüebler in 2014 by Mario Bürki. Raphaela Gromes was also a guest at the Jungfrau Music Festival Interlaken, the Vorsprung Festival of the Audi Summer Concerts in Ingolstadt, the Munich Opera Festival, the Marvao International Music Festival, the Mondsee Musiktage, the Edinburgh International Festival and the Rheingau Music Festival, as well as on tours in Asia and the USA.
Raphaela Gromes has been awarded numerous prizes: in 2011 she won the Musikförderpreis of the Konzertverein Ingolstadt, in 2012 the 1st Prize of the Richard Strauss Competition. Also since 2012 she has been a scholarship holder of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes and is supported by Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now. She also received a scholarship from the Hans and Eugenia Jütting Stiftung Stendal. In 2014 she was awarded the Sponsorship Prize of the Theodor Rogler Foundation Bad Reichenhall, together with her cello partner Cécile Grüebler. In 2016 she received the prize of the German Music Competition in the category cello solo and was included in the Federal Selection of Young Soloists by the German Music Council. Among her awards are also the 1st Prize of the Kulturkreis-Gasteig Competition in 2012 and 2016 as well as the 1st Prize of the international Concorso Fiorindo Turin 2013. In 2019 she received the German Record Critics' Prize for the CD “Offenbach” and the Bavarian Arts Promotion Prize in the category "Music and Dance". In 2020 she received the OPUS KLASSIK in the category chamber music recording duo for “Offenbach” with her piano partner Julian Riem.
She plays a violoncello by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume from around 1855, which was made available to her privately.
season 2020/2021
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