Recent premieres
Violin Concerto No. 2 "North Atlantic Light" & Piano Concerto No. 2 "Circulus"
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After the great success of De Raaff's Piano Concerto No. 1 it took him a mere 20 years to contemplate composing a Second concerto for Piano and orchestra. His first Piano Concerto was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, as the Jacobs commission in 2000, set up to be premiered in the Festival of Contemporary Music the next year at the prestigious Tanglewood Music Center.
It was premiered by De Raaff's friend, fellow country man, and phenomenally gifted piano talent Ralph van Raat with Ludovic Morlot conducting the FCM Ensemble. Ralph van Raat performed the European premiere in Frankfurt am Main to great acclaim as well, and following performances in London (Lucas Vis/Hessischer Rundfunk) and Rome (Marco Angius/Ensemble Algo Ritmo) i.a.
After 20 years, both a generation further in age and experience, De Raaff and Van Raat started brainstorming on a new Piano Concerto. With having the aim in mind of projecting the endless colours Van Raat embodies as a solist on an orchestral palet, and a thematic core based on large and small circular movements in time and space.
On June 10, 2022 De Raaff's Piano Concerto No. 2 "Circulus" was premiered in the Holland Festival.
Ralph van Raat on piano and Matthias Pintscher conducting the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
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De Raaff's Second Violin Concerto was initially composed as a chamber work entitled Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 "North Atlantic Light".
As such it was premiered in 2018 in Carnegie Hall's Kurt Weill Recital Hall and was composed especially for the phenomenal Dutch/American violinist Tosca Opdam, a most brilliant violin player and collaborator.
As part of the compositional process and artistic departure the chamber version was from the start seen as another angle on the magnificant painting North Atlantic Light by Dutch/American painter Willem de Kooning, on which De Raaff based his eponymous compositions.
The two different versions should be seen as two very different departures from the same origin, De Kooning's North Atlantic Light, which makes the orchestral version not an orchestration of the sonate nor the other way around. The two versions are autonomous musical worlds, both compositionally and structurally.
Both concertos are prepared for a CD release early Spring 2023.
For more information, including an interview, please visit: Music Up Close about my "North Atlantic Light"
On May 18 & 20, 2022 De Raaff's Violin Concerto No. 2 "North Atlantic Light" was premiered in the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam. Tosca Opdam on violin and Marc Albrecht conducting the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra
 Since 2018 Robin de Raaff is an exclusive artist on Challenge Records
Oratorio Atlantis & Symphony No. 4 "Melodies unheard"
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For the opening concert of season 2016/2017 De Raaff was commissioned by
De Vrijdag van Vredenburg to compose his Oratorio Atlantis, for soprano, bariton, 2 harps solo, large mixed choir & large orchestra. With a total of 160 singers and instrumentalists on stage, Atlantis is by far the largest concert work De Raaff has composed to date, both in size of the instrumentation as well as in duration.
Soprano Marisol Montalvo and Mark Stone performed the two vocal solo parts, Saskia Rekké and Véronique Serpenti the two solo harp parts, completed with the Radio Choir and the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and their chief conductor Markus Stenz in the Great Hall of Tivoli/Vredenburg. Watch the television broadcast here on Avro|TROS.
The recording of De Raaff's Oratorio Atlantis is to be released on a new CD in 2019 on the Challenge Records label.
The world premiere of his Symphony No. 4 "Melodies unheard", a symphony of songs on poems by Emily Dickinson for soprano and orchestra, was part of a National mini-tour through Anhem, Nijmegen and Apeldoorn. Sophia Burgos sang the soprano part and Antonello Manacorda conducted Het Gelders Orkest, where De Raaff has been composer-in-residence from 2011 to 2017.
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This recording of De Raaff's fourth Symphony "Melodies unheard" is released together with recordings of two other of his four Symphonies: His second Symphony with the subtitle "Two Worlds Colliding" scored for saxophone quartet and orchestra and his first Symphony for large orchestra with subtitle "Tanglewood Tales", for large orchestra are released on Challenge Records with the title: Melodies Unheard
The recording of his
Symphony No. 2 is of the world premiere in the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam in the ZaterdagMatinee performed by the world famous Raschèr Saxophone Quartet and the Radio Chamber Filharmonia conducted by Emilio Pomàrico. Symphony No. 1"Tanglewood Tales" is a recording of the performance of the world premiere of the complete Symphony in De Doelen of Rotterdam by Orchestre de Picardie and Het Doelen Ensemble conducted by Arie van Beek
Percussion Concerto
After the succesful North-American premiere of Der Einsame im Herbst in Lincoln Center in New York, De Raaff was commissioned to write a new composition for the New Juilliard Ensemble and Joel Sachs. This resulted in a double commission with the Insomnio Ensemble to compose a Percussion Concerto for percussion solist and ensemble. Composed almost entirely in the Valentine Studio of the Banff Center for the Artists where De Raaff composer in residence for the month of June 2013. Premiered on April 1st of 2014 in Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center in New York. His Percussion Concerto was reviewed in the
New York Times
by Zachary Woofe as: "The most rewarding work was Mr. De Raaff's Percussion Concerto".
After the New York premiere it has been performed in Amsterdam and Utrecht by Diego Espinoza and Ensemble Insomnio
conducted by Ulrich Pöhl, in Montreal by Julien Gregoire and Le Novel Ensemble Moder conducted by Lorraine Vaillencourt, and it will be performed in Toronto by Ensemble NMC conducted by Robert Aitken, percussionist tba.
Cello Concerto commissioned for the 100th anniversary of Le Sacre du Printemps
Robin de Raaff was commissioned by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra to compose a Cello Concerto For Marien van Staalen, their retiring principal cellist. The world premiere was programmed along side a performance of Le Sacre du Printemps of Igor Stravinsky in celebration of its 100th anniversary. Conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin it was performed twice in the sold-out Main Hall of De Doelen.
The recording of this magical performance by Marien van Staalen, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the RPhO is released on a Challenge Records International CD with the title
Entangled Tales, alongside of recordings of Entangled Tales and his Symphony No. 3 "Illumination...Eclipse". It was recorded for Television and broadcast on NTR Podium.
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Biography
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Robin de Raaff was born on December 5, 1968 in Breda, the Netherlands. He was raised in a very musical family where classical music and popular music were part of his daily life. As a child he received weekly piano lessons from his father and practised daily. De Raaff discovered his own musical world through playing the bass guitar, which he taught himself to play. As a teenager, under the explosive influence of fretless bass guitar legend Jaco Pastorius, De Raaff switched to fretless bass guitar, introducing him to a new world of complex instrumental music, and ultimately Jazz.
But even more passionately, already as a young teenager, composing his own music was his most important musical expression. Starting with pop songs, with ever increasing instrumental parts, larger symphonic proportions were soon imposed which inevitably lead him towards the great classical composers. Inspired by this newly discovered music De Raaff developed a musical style for symphony orchestra installing the necessity to compose in full score. After enrolling as a composition student at the Sweelinck Conservatory of Amsterdam, playing the bass guitar moved to the background, but his very broad musical interest would greatly influence his view on style in contemporary Classical music.
De Raaff first studied composition with Geert van Keulen and later with Theo Loevendie, with whom he graduated cum laude in 1997. In 1999 De Raaff had the special privilege of being invited to work as George Benjamin’s only composition student at the Royal College of Music in London where he also studied with Julian Anderson.
Since 2001 De Raaff has been a professor of composition and orchestration and an active faculty member at the Composition
Department of the Rotterdam
Conservatory of Music (Codarts)
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Tanglewood |
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In 2000 De Raaff was invited to the celebrated Tanglewood Music Center as the ‘Senior Composition Fellow’ which was the beginning of an ongoing relationship resulting in a series of commissions and performances, including the resident orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra. That same summer, De Raaff’s septet Ennea's domein was performed as part of Tanglewood’s Festival of Contemporary Music, a piece which was later programmed in the State of the Union concert of the London Sinfonietta in Queen Elizabeth Hall.
As a result of his success in 2000, the Tanglewood Music Center awarded De Raaff a commission to write a Piano Concerto which was premiered at the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music in 2001 by pianist Ralph van Raat and conductor Ludovic Morlot. Since the premiere, his Piano Concerto has been performed in Frankfurt, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Rome and London.
In 2007 De Raaff was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra to write Entangled Taleswhich was performed in the famous Koussevitsky Shed, the main stage of the BSO in Tanglewood, again conducted by Ludovic Morlot. In later seasons Entangled Tales has been performed by Neeme Järvi with the Residentie Orchestra in The Hague and the Moscow Symphony Orchestra conducted by Otto Tausk.
As part of the Festival of Contemporary Music his quartet for clarinet, violin, cello and piano Un visage d'emprunt in the Ozawa Hall in August of 2009 as the American premiere.
For the 75th anniversary of the Tanglewood Music Center (TMC) De Raaff was commissioned to compose a Fanfare which was premiered on the 28th of June 2015 in the Ozawa Hall.
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The Operas RAAFF & Waiting for Miss Monroe
RAAFF
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After a creation period of nearly 10 years, De Raaff finished his first opera RAAFF in 2004, which was commissioned by the Netherlands Opera in a co-production with the The Holland Festival. The opera is written for 6 soloists, an actor, a chorus and an orchestra (Nieuw Ensemble).
The birth of this opera began with De Raaff’s success at a master class for young composers with Pierre Boulez organized by DNO (Netherlands Opera) in 1995. Boulez, whose high artistic expectations were very apparent in the class, singled out De Raaff’s string quartet Athomus (1992-3) with high praise, further confirming and encouraging the success that De Raaff was already having in Europe. As a result of this success, there was extensive press coverage of the masterclass, and De Raaff’s connection to DNO was established.
The initial idea of the opera RAAFF was inspired by the relationship between Anton Raaff, the tenor for whom Mozart wrote the title role of Idomeneo, and Mozart, and the story of Idomeneo and it’s creation. Pierre Audi introduced De Raaff to Janine Brogt who would become the librettist for RAAFF.
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Under the direction of Pierre Audi, to whom the opera is dedicated, and the musical direction of Lawrence Renes, RAAFF was premiered on June 23rd, 2004.
A recording of the premiere of RAAFF which features such celebrated performers as soprano Danielle de Niese and the two tenors Marcel Reijans and Mark Tevis is available on CD under the label of Etcetera Records.
Commissioned by the "Nederlandse Opera" with financial support of the
Fund for the Creation of Music, RAAFF was premiered on 23 June 2004 in Amsterdam.
The Chorus part was performed by the Vocal Ensemble of DNO and was prepared by Winfried Maczewski
In 2017, the recording of RAAFF was remastered, as part of the Composers Cut-series. Listen here to the release.
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Photos RAAFF
photos credit: Clärchen and Matthias Baus |
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RAAFF INFORMATION & PHOTOS
Netherlands Opera production |
Waiting for Miss Monroe
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In contrast to the long creation period of his first opera RAAFF, Waiting for Miss Monroe took only 14 months to compose. However, the idea that sparked the opera started soon after his opera RAAFF was premiered in season 2003-2004 of The Dutch National Opera (DNO).
Initially De Raaff was investigating writing an opera about the Kemp-figure Liberace, but every thread kept on leading to the life and tragic death of Marilyn Monroe. The most crucial discovery about her were the specifics of the therapy sessions she had with her therapist Dr. Greenson. He urged Marilyn Monroe to use a tape recorder to stimulate her to voice her most private struggles and thoughts, as the therapy-sessions were getting more and more unsuccessful. Marilyn Monroe was able to channel her most personal thoughts and experiences to this impersonal tape recorder, and would then listen to these recorded session together with him. She created numerous tapes like this, which are up to this date still kept in a safe in the Marilyn Monroe estate.
The tapes of these stream of consciousness sessions, and the speculations of their content, would become the leading thread in his second opera, also commissioned by The Dutch National Opera.
The year 2012 became of paramount importance given the 50th anniversary of here tragic and yet unexplained death in 1962, and was soon concretely planned as the year for the world premiere of this new opera. The libretto, completely in English, was written again by Janine Brogt.
Waiting for Miss Monroe was also commissioned by The Dutch National Opera in coproduction with The Holland Festival with financial support of the Fund for the Creation of Music.
Under the direction of Lotte de Beer and the musical direction of Steven Sloane, Waiting for Miss Monroe was successfully premiered on the 9th of June 2012 in a total of 6 performances in the Stadschouwburg of Amsterdam. Clement & Sanou were responsible for the scenography, costumes and lights. Just like with the world premiere of RAAFF, DNO coproduced Waiting for Miss Monroe with the The Holland Festival. Waiting for Miss Monroe is scored for 10 singers and Symphony Orchestra.
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A Double CD of the recording of Waiting for Miss Monroe has been released by Challenge Records International in 2015.
Laura Aikin as Marilyn Monroe
Dale Duesing as Fox
Helena Rasker as Paula
David DQ Lee as Whitey
Maria Kowan as Eve
Alain Coulombe as Clark Gable
Tom Randle as Joe DiMaggio
John Tessier as Jack (JFK)
Daniel Belcher as Bobby (RFK)
Hendrickje van Kerckhove as Norma Jeane.
Robin de Raaff dedicated the opera Waiting for Miss Monroe is to Laura Aikin.
A professionally edited video-registration of this opera production is available on a non-commercial DVD for private perusal only. Please contact: Deuss Music or Robin de Raaff
Premieres in the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam
Violin Concerto No. 1 "Angelic echoes" & Tanglewood Tales (aka Symphony No. 1)
Both works were premiered by Maestro Jaap van Zweden in different seasons of the NTR: ZaterdagMatinee, conducting the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. The world premiere in January of 2012 of Tanglewood Tales was a compilation two seperately premiered orchestral works, Untangled Tales in 2011 and Entangled Tales in 2007.
Entangled Tales was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and dedicated to Edo de Waard and Tony Fogg. It was premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra on the 6th of August 2007 in the Koussevitsky Shed conducted by Ludovic Morlot. After this world premiere De Raaff composed
Untangled Tales which was commissioned separately by the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and dedicated to George Benjamin, Lothar Zagrosek and the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie
Both short orchestral works can be performed as movement I and II forming the larger Tanglewood Tales
After the Coda was added to Tanglewood Tales, it was transformed in to De Raaff's Symphony No.1 "Tanglewood Tales"which was premiered by Arie van Beek in Concergebouw De Doelen in Rotterdam, during the Classic:NEXT edition of 2016, with Orchestra Symphonique de Picardie and the Doelen Ensemble
In December 2008 conductor Jaap van Zweden, violinist Tasmin Little and the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra gave the world premiere of De Raaff’s Violin Concerto No. 1 "Angelic echoes" in the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, a commissioned work for the ZaterdagMatinee series. With a monumental duration of 32 minutes, De Raaff’s new opus was performed to a sold out Concertgebouw.
De Raaff’s Violin Concerto met with high critical acclaim in all the national newspapers and won the Toonzetters Prize in 2009 as Best Musical Work of 2008. For this occasion his First Violin Concerto was performed again in the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam on 30 August 2009 by Violinist Joe Puglia and Étienne Siebens conducting Het Brabants Orkest.
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Concerto for Orchestra & Unisono with the Royal
Concertgebouw Orchestra
Concerto for Orchestra (1999-2002)
An earlier development in De Raaff's career is the relationship he built with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. His Concerto for Orchestra, a composition which was originally commissioned and premiered by the Residentie Orchestra in The Hague in 2001 (conducted by Kristjan Järvi), was included in the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s series “Teacher and Student” in their 2002-03 season. This concert in the renowned main hall of the Concertgebouw highlighted the teacher / student relationship between Messiaen and Benjamin and between Benjamin and De Raaff. The programm consisted of the monumental Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum for large wind orchestra and percussion Olivier Messiaen. Of Benjamin himself, who conducted the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra his orchestral composition Sudden Time was performed, and of György Ligeti Atmosphères.
De Raaff's Concerto for Orchestra is dedicated to Leo Samama, former artistic leader of the Residentie Orkest
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Unisono, for large orchestra (2003-2004)
Following the performance of his Concerto for Orchestra , the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra had commissioned De Raaff to write a new composition for large orchestra which was premiered under the direction of Ed Spanjaard in Amsterdam on thursday 16 December 2004. The title of the work was Unisono which was dedicated to his partner Maria whom he met in the Tanglewood in 2000.
On the program was Solo by Luciano Berio, a work for solo trombone (performed by Jörgen van Rijen) and orchestra. Mi-Parti, pour orchestre by Witold Lutoslaski, and La Mèr by Claude Debussy, which was a personal favorite orchestral work suggested by the composer to be paired with the world premiere of Unisono
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Both his Concerto for Orchestra and
his Unisono in the performances by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra are documented on De Raaff’s portrait CD Orchestral Works on Etcetera Records. Also included on this CD is a recording of De Raaff's internationally acclaimed Piano Concerto. This portrait CD received a rave critical review in the Dutch national Classical Music Magazine “Luister”, scoring a 9 out of 10 in the rating.
The CD is available throughout the world and available on Spotify/iTunes and other digital platforms.
A completely new version, fully re-edited by the composer and remastered by Studio Van Schuppen, of
Unisono is available on a Double Portrait CD on Attacca Records in October 2017, with the title Stolen back from Time.
And a future release of
Concerto for Orchestra, again fully re-edited by the composer and remastered by Studio Van Schuppen, will be available on an upcoming Challenge Records release, as one of the anual releases of De Raaff's Music.
Unisono is dedicated to his wife Maria whom he met in the summer of 2000 where they both were fellows at the Tanglewood Music Center.
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Multimedia
projects |
Counter Phrases, a film concert by ROSAS
Ensemble and Ictus Ensemble
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In 2001 De Raaff collaborated with his short ensemble composition Orphic descent with the renowned Belgian Ictus Ensemble through a fortunate encounter with composer and cinematographer Thierry DeMey in Spring Dance 2000, a workshop for composers and choreographers in Utrecht.
This lead to a critically acclaimed Multimedia project called "Counter Phrases" with both the ROSAS Dance Ensemble and the Ictus Music Ensemble, led by choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and conductor Georges-Elie Octors. For this project De Raaff was commissioned to write a musical reaction to a filmed choreography, shot by Thierry DeMey on location in the beautiful Belgian countryside.
This multimedia concert included nine other filmed choreographies set to music by Harvey, Reich, Lindberg, Francesconi, Hosokawa, Romitelli, Aperghis, Van Eycken and DeMey. Since the World Premiere in 2003, this project has toured to many of the major concert halls of Europe including, Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, Barbican Centre in London, Birmingham Symphony Hall, Konzerthaus Wien, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Kölner Philharmonie, Cité de la Musique Paris, Opera Leonard de Vinci in Rouen, Auditorium Lyon, Théâtre de Caen, Grand Théâtre du Luxembourg and Opéra de Lille.
A DVD of "Counter Phrases", opening with De Raaff's Orphic descent is available by the ROSAS Ensemble, as part of a retrospective DVD Box of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s work. (with ROSAS and Ictus Ensembles.)
Megumi, a dramatic documentary by director Mirjam van Veelen
Robin de Raaff was introduced to cinematographer Mirjam van Veelen through their mutual close friend and saxophone player William Raaijman (1972-2007). Mirjam had an idea for a new dramatic documentary about a Japanese girl named Megumi Yokota, who, on her way back home from school, was abducted by North Korean spies in 1977. And the silenced voice of Megumi would be performed by William on several saxophones.
This was picked up with great enthusiasm by Robin de Raaff, who always wanted to compose a work especially for William. This installed a very close artistic team to support Mirjam van Veelen's idea for her new film.
De Raaff finished his score for Megumi as a set of movements for saxophone solo and ensemble, performed by William Raaijman on saxophones and the Doelen Ensemble conducted by Maarten van Veen. The score for Megumi is dedicated to William Raaijman who died a few weeks after the recording sessions were completed.
Festivals in which Megumi has been shown
2008 International Film Festival Rotterdam, World Premiere
2008 Visions du Reel, International Documentary Film Festival in Nyon, International Competition
2008 Asian American International Film Festival in New York
2008 Amakula Kampala International Film Festival in Uganda
2008 The Netherlands Film Festival in Utrecht
2008 De Balie, Celluloid Digitaal, Amsterdam
2008 Corona Cork International Film Festival in Cork
2008 Festival International du Film Independent in Brussels
2008 Centre Pompidou in Paris, les Cinema's (selected by Geraldine Gomez)
2008 Siebold Huis in Leiden, Leids Filmfestival, Leiden
2009 The Bradford International Media Museum Film Festival in Bradford
2009 London International Documentary Film Festival (LIDF), Special Mention Best Film
2009 Planet Doc Review Warsaw, Magic Hour Competition
2009 Barbican, Cinema in London, DocSpot Season (part of the LIDF)
2014 De Doelen, Flipse Zaal, Rotterdam
2014 De Toonzaal, den Bosch
And from 15 November 2009 until 15 January 2010 Megumi will be shown in the Independant Asian Movie Festival for a total of 84 times, in Sinema Old School in Singapore
For more information about Megumi and/or Mirjam van Veelen, please visit: www.mirjamvanveelen.com
In 2013 De Raaff composed a Suite from the film music which was an In Memoriam William Raaijman with the title Megumi-Suite, for saxophone solo and small ensemble. This Suite was premiered by Eva van Grinsven, the Doelen Ensemble conducted by Maarten van Veen on the 25th of January 2014 in the Flipse Zaal of Concertgebouw De Doelen.
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Other
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Der Einsame im Herbst for large ensemble (1998)
This commissioned work for the annual Gergiev Festival in 1998, programmed by Rotterdam Philharmonic’s Chief Conductor Valery Gergiev, was premiered by conductor Henk Guittart and the Doelen Ensemble. This is one of many fruitful collaborations with Henk Guittart, who was also a member of the Schönberg Quartet.
After this world premiere, Der Einsame im Herbst had numerous performances, including a performance in Alice Tully Hall in New York’s Lincoln Center with the New Juilliard Ensemble and conducted by Joel Sachs, in Amsterdam’s Paradiso performed by the Radio Chamber Orchestra and conducted by Peter Eötvös, and in Stadthaus Winterthur Konzertsaal performed by MusikKollegium Winterthur and conducted by Jac van Steen.
On the 30th of August a performance with the Asko/Schönberg Ensemble in the Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ in Amsterdam, with Clark Rundell conducting.
Der Einsame im Herbst is available on Et'Cetera Records, performed by the Doelen ensemble and conducted by Arie van Beek, together with the Flute Concerto. and the Megumi-Suite
Double Concerto for clarinet, bass clarinet and orchestra (1996-7)
De Raaff’s Double Concerto had an unusual start. After famous Dutch bass clarinet player Harry Sparnaay and Michel Arrignon (principal clarinet player of the Ensemble InterContemporain at that time) premiered De Raaff’s Equilibre for clarinet and bass clarinet in Theatre des Champs Elysées in Paris. This collaboration resulted in a new work for clarinet, bass clarinet and orchestra. This became De Raaff’s first commission for the ZaterdagMatinee. His Double Concerto had its world premiere in the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam with solists Harmen de Boer (cl.) and Harry Sparnaay (bcl.) and the Radio Chamber Orchestra conducted by Peter Eötvös, meeting up with rave reviews in the National newspapers.
This began his collaboration with conductor Peter Eötvös who would become a consistent force in De Raaff’s career with performances of Der Einsame im Herbst and his Piano Concerto.
In 1998 De Raaff’s Double Concerto was selected for the Gaudeamus week and as the Jury Selection for the Gaudeamus Prize.
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Prizes |
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2009 Winner Buma Toonzetters Prize 2008, Violin Concerto selected as best Dutch composition of 2008
1998 Bernhard van den Sigtenhorst Meyer Prize from Geneco for his Double concerto for clarinet, bass clarinet and orchestra
1997 First prize at the 1997 International Competition for Composers of Chamber Music in Winterthur (Switzerland) for his work Anachronie for flute and harpsichord
1995 Academisch Genootschap Prize for his compositions Contradictie I for flute solo, Athomus for string quartet and In memoriam Dmitri Shostakovich for 2 trumpets, 2 horns and orchestra
1995 KNTV Composition Prize for De vlucht van de magiër for soprano, flute, mandolin, guitar and harp on a poem by Serge van Duijnhoven
1995 BP's Young European Composers Seminar in Leipzig. De Raaff received a special prize three of his chamber music compositions, Equilibre for clarinet and bass clarinet, Athomus, and Contradictie I
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Collaborations |
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Robin de Raaff worked with ensembles, musicians and orchestras from all over the world, such as:
Conductors
Peter Eötvös, Reinbert de Leeuw, Jaap van Zweden, Marin Alsop, Ilan Volkov, Neeme Järvi, Kristjan Järvi, Joel Sachs, Emilio Pomarico, Ludovic Morlot, Lothar Zagrosek, Ross Pople, Jac van Steen, Lucas Vis, George Benjamin, Otto Tausk, Christian Eggen, Ed Spanjaard, Lawrence Renes, George-Elie Octors, Stefan Asbury, Henk Guittart, Etienne Siebens, Daniele Calegari, Lorraine Vaillancourt, Micha Hamel, Arie van Beek, Maarten van Veen, David Smeyers, James Avery, Ulrich Pöhl, Clark Rundell, Marco Angius, Zsolt Nagy, Huub Kerstens
Orchestras
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Royal Festival Orchestra, Radio Filharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Symphony Orchestra of the “Hessischer Rundfunk”, Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Residentie Orchestra, Radio Chamber Orchestra, Het Brabants Orkest, Musik Collegium Wintertur, Netherlands Ballet Orchestra, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra
Ensembles
New Juilliard Ensemble, London Sinfonietta, Ictus Ensemble, Schönberg Esemble, Asko Ensemble, Nieuw Ensemble, FCM Ensemble (Tanglewood), Doelen Ensemble, Le Nouvel Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Algo Ritmo, Insomnio Ensemble, Arditti Quartet, Raschèr Saxophone Quartet, Mondriaan Quartet, Schönberg Quartet, Het Trio, Osiris Trio, Cikada Ensemble, Asasello Quartet, Breitner Quartet, Fodor Quintet, Syrinx Saxophone Quartet
Solists
Tasmin Little, Harry Sparnaay, James Campbell, Ralph van Raat, Simon Aldrich, Marien van Staalen, Harrie Starreveld, Michel Arrignon, Danielle de Niese, Marcel Reijans, Joshua Ellicot, William Raaijman, David Wilson-Johnson, Maria Kowan, Annett Andriesen, Barbara Hannigan, Luisa Sello, Alicia DiDonato, Valéry Giullorit, Daniel Rowland, Joe Puglia, Ad Welleman, Leo van Oostrom, Mark Haanstra, Pauline Post, Céleste Zewald, Eric Rynes, Marrit Winger, Monique Krüs, Monique Scholte, Jana Machalett, Mark Tavis
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