Robin de Raaff explained

Robin de Raaff
Birth Name:Hubertus Jacobus de Raaff
Birth Date:5 December 1968
Birth Place:Breda, Noord-Brabant
Nationality:Dutch nationality
Alma Mater:Royal College of MusicSweelinck Conservatory of Amsterdam
Occupation:Composer and bassist

Robin de Raaff (Dutch pronunciation: ['robin də ‘ra[[Help:IPA/Dutch|ː]]f]; born in 1968) is a Dutch composer and bassist.[1] He has written five symphonies, eleven concertos,[2] [3] [4] an oratorio entitled Atlantis,[5] and two main stage operas. The last opera Waiting for Miss Monroe[6] is about the tragic death of Marilyn Monroe[7] whose role was sung by American soprano Laura Aikin.[8] His first opera entitled RAAFF[9] [10] is an opera about the complex relationship between the older Anton Raaff and the young M. (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) in their struggle to create the world premiere of Idomeneo. Both operas were commissioned by Dutch National Opera[11] coproduced by the Holland Festival.[12]

Alongside of the creation of these large scale works De Raaff composed chamber music, vocal music, solo works for musical instruments, and music for film.[13]

De Raaff belongs to the generation of Dutch composers that emerged in the 1990s. In 2001 De Raaff became teacher of Musical composition and Instrumentation at Codarts, University for the Arts.

Childhood and career

Childhood

Robin de Raaff grew up in Breda in a musically active family. His father is a pianist and accordeonist with whom young Robin had private piano lessons from the age of seven while individually learning how to play the bass guitar. Through the growing influence of Classical music De Raaff started composing complete instrumental works alongside a switch to Jazz oriented playing as he discovered the bassist Jaco Pastorius, and switched to fretless bass guitar as well. When De Raaff was accepted as a composition student at the Sweelinck Conservatory (now Conservatory of Amsterdam) in 1992, Music of the 20th century and Contemporary classical music became his world.

Early career (1992–2012)

De Raaff moved to Amsterdam in 1992 to pursue his Academic career at the Sweelinck Conservatory. The first years Geert van Keulen was his composition teacher, composer and bass clarinet player in the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestral, in 1997 De Raaff finished the Studies of Composition Cum Laude with Theo Loevendie, composer and Jazz saxophonist.

During a masterclass, led by composer Pierre Boulez, De Raaff stood out with his opus 1 String Quartet No. 1 "Athomus" meeting up with praise from the French master. The Dutch National Opera organized this masterclass in 1995 when Pierre Boulez was conducting the opera Moses und Aron by Arnold Schoenberg, it was the beginning of a life long connection with DNO as Pierre Audi took De Raaff under his wing preparing him to compose his first opera RAAFF which was premiered in 2004 in the Westergasfabriek directed by Pierre Audi. De Raaff's second opera, Waiting for Miss Monroe was premiered in 2012 in the Stadsschouwburg in Amsterdam directed by Lotte de Beer, both operas were coproductions between DNO and the Holland Festival.[14]

In 1999, after finishing his studies at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, De Raaff become a private student of George Benjamin at the Royal College of Music in London. Alongside his lessons with Benjamin, De Raaff had private lessons with Julian Anderson as well.

Tanglewood Music Festival

As George Benjamin became Composer-in-Residence in 2000 at the renowned Tanglewood Music Festival he invited De Raaff to become the senior fellow at the summer festival where he won the prestigious Paul Jacobs Memorial Commission for the next summer's Festival of Contemporary Music. This became his first Piano Concerto premiered by Ralph van Raat in 2001 friend and artist-in-residence that year at the FCM. Six years later The Boston Symphony Orchestra commissioned De Raaff to compose an orchestral work that would be premiered in the famous Koussevitzky Shed at Tanglewood in 2007. This became his Entangled Tales for orchestra. For the 75th Anniversary of Tanglewood De Raaff was commissioned to write a composition for brass orchestra, which became his Fanfare.

Since 2001 Robin de Raaff has been teaching Composition and Instrumentation at Codarts, University for the Arts in Rotterdam,[15] education a wide array of composers.

Further career (2012–present)

After composing his second opera De Raaff redirected his expanding oeuvre towards non-theatrical works, with a renewed insight which he developed composing these large scale operas. This new insight can best be described as a new dramaturgical depth in his composing and orchestration, which gave rise to an increasing amount of large scale works. Among them five Symphonies, four of the in total eleven Concertos, an orchestral work, a composition for chamber orchestra, his oratorio Atlantis, two of the in total three String Quartets, a vast number of vocal and instrumental chamber works, and a Suite for saxophone and ensemble from the film music created for the dramatized documentary Megumi. Currently De Raaff is composing a cantate for choir and orchestra on the poem L'Azur by Stephane Mallarmé.

In 2012 De Raaff changed publisher from Donemus, who represented his work exclusively since 1993, to Deuss Music[16] where his entire oeuvre is presently managed. The copyrights to his oeuvre have been transferred to Buma/Stemra for International exploitation of the performing, broadcasting, and recording rights

Awards

Works

For an overview of a selection of De Raaff's Works[21] in Dutch see also: Oeuvre of Robin de Raaff

Discography

Albums

Appearances

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Robin de Raaff in Library of IRCAM . 2023-04-24 . brahms.ircam.fr.
  2. News: Woolfe . Zachary . 7 April 2014 . A Maximalist Evening, Both Earthy and Elegiac . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-04-12 . 0362-4331.
  3. Web site: 18 September 2007 . Dutch Cornucopia / IFP / Pople, Cadogan Hall, London . 2023-04-12 . The Independent . en.
  4. News: Griffiths . Paul . 16 August 2001 . MUSIC REVIEW; Young Performers, New Works at Tanglewood . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-04-24 . 0362-4331.
  5. Web site: Music . Deuss . Deuss Music -Works by RobindeRaaff – Atlantis, an oratorio for soprano, bariton, 2 harps, mixed choir and orchestra . 2023-04-25 . Deuss Music . en.
  6. Web site: Waiting for Miss Monroe . 2023-04-24 . Operabase . 9 June 2012 . en.
  7. News: Clements . Andrew . 16 December 2015 . De Raaff: Waiting for Miss Monroe CD review – songs haunted by the ghost of Norma Jean . en-GB . The Guardian . 2023-04-12 . 0261-3077.
  8. News: Loomis . George . 12 June 2012 . A Dutch Take on a Cultural Icon . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-04-12 . 0362-4331.
  9. Web site: Music . Deuss . Deuss Music – Newly composed Art Music and Opera – Works – RobindeRaaff . 2023-04-24 . Deuss Music . en.
  10. Web site: Raaff by Robin de Raaff Opera . 2023-04-24 . Operabase . en.
  11. Web site: ROBIN DE RAAFF: The Operas . 2023-04-24 . www.robinderaaff.com.
  12. Web site: Robin de Raaff – Holland Festival . 2023-04-28 . www.hollandfestival.nl . en.
  13. Web site: MEGUMI – THE MUSIC Mirjam van Veelen . 2023-12-08 . en-US.
  14. Web site: Robin de Raaff – Holland Festival . 2024-07-14 . www.hollandfestival.nl . nl.
  15. Web site: Academic career . 2023-04-30 . robinderaaff.com.
  16. Web site: Music . Deuss . Deuss Music – nieuw gecomponeerde kunstmuziek en opera – Componisten – RobindeRaaff . 2024-07-15 . Deuss Music . en.
  17. Web site: Een goede traditie: de AG-kunstprijs . 2023-12-06 . ag-eindhoven.nl.
  18. Web site: ROBIN DE RAAFF www.robinderaaff.com Prizes/Awards . 2023-04-28 . robinderaaff.com.
  19. News: ROBIN DE RAAFF OVER: De eenzame Schönberg . 2023-04-28 . NRC . 21 September 1998 . nl . Wennekes . Emile .
  20. Web site: Robin de Raaff wint Buma Toonzetters Prijs 2008 . 2023-04-28 . Conservatorium van Amsterdam . 30 September 2009 . nl.
  21. Web site: ROBIN DE RAAFF www.robinderaaff.com . 2023-12-08 . robinderaaff.com.
  22. Web site: 30 January 2018 . Editor's Corner . 2023-12-08 . The WholeNote . en-gb.
  23. Web site: News – Release of Orphic descent by Robin de Raaff .
  24. Web site: Music UpClose – North Atlantic Light .
  25. Web site: Schulman . Michael . 30 January 2018 . Robin de Raaff – Entangled Tales / Stolen back from Time . 2023-12-08 . The WholeNote . en-gb.
  26. Web site: 3 April 2021 . Ladder of Escape 11 . 2023-04-26 . Dutch Performers House . nl.
  27. Web site: gool . cinde van . 14 June 2021 . Recensie DIVERSEN – Ladder of escape 11 (werken van Kagel, Stockhausen, Hirs, De Raaff en Chin) – Luister . 2023-04-26 . Luister magazine . nl.
  28. Web site: North Atlantic Light – Tosca Opdam . 2023-04-26 . toscaopdam.com.
  29. Web site: Untangled Tales, Robin De Raaff . 2023-12-06 . brahms.ircam.fr.
  30. Web site: Junge Deutsche Philharmonie – RECHERCHEN . 2023-12-06 . www.jdph.de.

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