Beethoven, Tchaikowsky, Strawinsky, Schostakowitsch, George Crumb, Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, Thomas Newman, Genesis, Police, Coldplay, Queen, Nine Inch Nails
Felix Raffel, born 1983 in Neumünster/Germany, took his first piano lessons at the age of five. He worked with distinguished teachers such as Annegret Frick, Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Peter Feuchtwanger, Günter Ludwig and Cécile Ousset. Since 2003 he is studying at Hanover University of Music and Drama with Prof. Heidi Köhler.
He successfully took part in several competitions: In 2000, he received a scholarship from the Oscar and Vera Ritter foundation at the Steinway Competition, one year later he won first prize in the biggest German national competition „Jugend musiziert“. In 2005 and 2006 he was the first prize winner of the two international piano competitions „Città di Padova“ in Italy and „Piano Campus“ in Pontoise, France and special prize winner offered by Elisa and Peppino Orlando at the international competition „Arcangelo Speranza“ in Taranto, Italy. He completed his pianistic exams in the subjects “music teaching” and “artistic education” in 2007 and 2008 with the highest marks.
Felix Raffel played in many distinguished concert halls throughout Europe and Japan such as Laeiszhalle (Hamburg), Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt (Berlin), Salle Cortot (Paris), Sala dei Giganti (Padova), the Summer Festival (Annecy) or Bunkamura Orchard Hall (Tokyo) and was portrayed on television as well as on radio from the age of twelve.
Besides his pianistic activities he also received a scholarship for composition from 1995 to 2001 with Mr. Thomas Kärcher from the Yamaha foundation. In this period, Felix Raffel’s first orchestra and ensemble pieces were written and had successful perfomances in the biggest concert halls of Heide, Berlin, Eisenach and Aschaffenburg. Many compositions were published since then, e.g. the “Overture for Chamber Orchestra”, which had its first performance at Staatsoper Hannover in August 2008.
His musical activities are not only focused on classical music: with the jazz-and rockgroup „Limelight“ he played at many destinations in germany. High spots were two gigs during the FIFA World Cup 2006 in front of 30.000 spectators in Hanover, where Felix Raffel played the keyboards. Having been one of the main songwriters in the german rock group „DuFreitag!“, Felix Raffel made keyboard contribution on the EP „Ab heute!“, which was recorded in november 2006. The band furtheron played in two of the biggest german group competition finals.
He has also been a longtime member of several improvisation theatre groups, mainly the „Improkokken“ from Hanover where Felix Raffel was responsible for the accompanying music. High spots were gigs in Langenhagen and Hanover in front of 600 spectators in 2005 and 2006, together with Germany’s top group „Fast Food“ from Munich. Currently he is working in Berlin with the “Gorillas” and “FreiWild”.
Since October 2007 Felix Raffel is studying film music scoring at the University of Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg with Prof. Ulrich Reuter. Since then, some of his film music works have already been published, e.g. “Serenade-Déja-Vu”, "Coffee To Go" or “Dietrich’s Method”. Several other film projects are in progress.
Thanks very much for friendship... I like this opportunity to share our worlds... The Life of a man is made up of a series of dreams which write our history, as well as our children, who then start to write their own. I decided to continue writing mine as soon as I began to dream in early childhood. One doesn't need to stop the journey along the way. It is necessary to believe that the stars which light our way will never go out, and to continue to follow our dreams which inspire us in the most beautiful moments of our lives. If not, why is my star helping me to write so many fine melodies? I composed a suite for my dream, called " Melody for an Oscar", and I am convinced that one day someone will help me to reach for that Oscar in Hollywood, which I have always imagined in my dreams. No matter what, my dreams have enhanced my musical creativity, and for that I am thankful. Didier EUZET
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