Serenata Italiana Raphaela Gromes

• Ferruccio Busoni (1866 - 1924):
• 1 Serenata, Op. 34, BV 196 06:51
• Giuseppe Martucci (1856 - 1909): Cello Sonata in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 52:
• 2 I. Allegro giusto 09:32
• 3 II. Scherzo. Allegro molto - Trio. Allegretto 05:47
• 4 III. Intermezzo. Andantino 03:29
• 5 IV. Finale. Allegro 09:04
• Alfredo Casella (1883 - 1947):
• 6 Notturno e Tarantella, Op. 54: II. Tarantella (Allegro molto vivace) 01:54
• Leone Sinigaglia (1868 - 1944): 2 Stücke, Op. 16:
• 7 I. Romanze (Quasi adagio) 03:32
• 8 II. Humoreske (Allegro con brio) 06:09
• Matilde Capuis (1913 - 2017):
• 9 Animato con passione 04:12
• Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968):
• 10 Figaro, Paraphrase on "Largo al factotum" from "Il barbiere di Siviglia": Fantasie (Allegro vivace) 06:07
• Total Runtime 56:37

Info for Serenata Italiana

The first album of the young cellist Raphaela Gromes presents a selection of interesting Italian late romantic masterpieces for cello and piano. Raphaela is accompanied by pianist Julian Riem and presents an interesting programme of chamber works by Busoni, Martucci, Casella, Sinigaglia, Capuis and Castelnuovo-Tedesco. Raphaela has been delighting her ever-increasing public not only with her technical brilliance but also with her great feel for the works that she plays and with her exceptionally winning personality. Even the great cellist Yo-Yo Ma was im-pressed by the “courageous curiosity and energy” which radiated from the artist. Specialist promo & marketing activity.

Raphaela Gromes, cello
Julian Riem, piano

Raphaela Gromes
"I was so impressed listening to the Gromes Riem Duo performing the Debussy Sonata at a master class in Munich recently. Admittedly it is not a natural setting for performance, yet the duo played with great aplomb. But what impressed me most was the obvious wish to communicate the content to their public.

It is their courageous curiosity and energy that impressed me. Their commitment to one another as duo partners for four years is further testimony to their commitment to forge a lasting meaningful musical partnership, and to share their musical discoveries with a larger public.” Yo-Yo Ma, 02/2016

Raphaela Gromes received her first cello lessons at the age of four. Being only seven years old, she already accompanied her parents – both being cellists – on stage. Her solo debut with Friedrich Gulda’s cello concerto in autumn 2005 was highly acclaimed both by the audience and the media. In consequence numerous concerts with the great cello repertory followed.

Various composers have already dedicated cello concertos to her: the world premiere of Dominik Giesriegel’s cello concerto in 2012 was followed by that of Valentin Bachmann’s cello concerto performed by the Philharmonic Orchestra Budweis conducted by David Svec. The third world premiere, the double concerto “Chroma” that Mario Bürki had written for Raphaela Gromes and Cécile Grüebler in 2014, brought her into contact with the Swiss military orchestra. Further on she collaborated with Kent Nagano and the Czech Philharmonic as well as with Christoph Altstaedt and the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn.

Raphaela Gromes was invited to the Jungfrau Music Festival Interlaken, the Vorsprung Festival of the “Audi Summer Concerts” in Ingolstadt, the Munich Opera Festival, the Marvão International Music Festival, the Mondsee Musiktage Festival and the Edinburgh International Festival. In addition to her career as soloist she is also devoted to chamber music. Her chamber music partners are amongst others Christian Altenburger, Isabelle von Keulen, Alexander Lubimov, Patrick Demenga and Mischa Maisky. Together with her duo-partner, the pianist Julian Riem, she regularly gives concerts throughout Germany and abroad.

Her first recordings that were taken with her longtime piano partner Julian Riem, were released by Farao Music in 2014. Since 2016 she is one of SONY Classical exclusive artists. In September 2017 her first SONY-CD with the works of the late Romantic composers Giuseppe Martucci, Leone Sinigaglia, Ferrucio B. Busoni and Mario Castelnuovo, that she recorded with her partner Julian Riem, will be released.

Raphaela Gromes has already won numerous prizes: in 2011 she was awarded the Musikförderpreis des Konzertverein Ingolstadt (young musicians’ scholarship), in 2012 she was first in the Competition Richard Strauss. In 2012 she was granted a scholarship of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes (German National Merit Foundation) and has been supported by Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now since then. Furthermore she received the scholarship of the Hans and Eugenia Jütting Foundation Stendal. Raphaela Gromes and her duo cello partner, Cécile Grüebler, received the Förderpreis der Theodor-Rogler-Stiftung Bad Reichenhall (young musicians’ scholarship) in 2014. In 2016 she was first in the cello solo competition of the German Music Council and became one of this year’s young talented musicians who receive special promotion (“Bundesauswahl Junger Solisten”). She was first prize winner of the Kulturkreis-Gasteig competition in 2012 and 2016 and also of the international Concorso Fiorindo Turin in 2013.

Raphaela Gromes is a graduate of the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich where she studied with Wen-Sinn Yang. She started her studies with Reinhard Latzko at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna in 2015/16. She took master classes with well-known cellists like David Geringas, Yo-Yo Ma, Natalia Gutman, László Fenyö, Daniel Müller-Schott, Kristin von der Goltz, Wolfgang Boettcher, Anner Bylsma, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmid and Peter Bruns, who accepted her as junior student from 2006 until 2010 at the University of Music and Theatre “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” Leipzig.

Raphaela Gromes’ cello is a Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume instrument of 1855 that is provided by a private benefactor.

Booklet for Serenata Italiana