Raphaela Gromes

Highly virtuosic and full of drive, passionate and technically brilliant, versatile and charming – there are hardly any other cellists who are able to captivate their audiences the way Raphaela Gromes does. Whether as a soloist with orchestra, as a duo in chamber music or alongside a wind quartet, the young cellist always leaves everyone spellbound with both her fantastically ambitious and remarkably effortless playing.
As a young student, she began her studies at the age of 14 at the University of Music and Theatre Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in Leipzig with Peter Bruns before continuing with Wen-Sinn Yang at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich in 2010 and later with Reinhard Latzko at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

Awards to her name include First Prize at both the 2012 »Richard Strauss Competition« as well as the »German Music Competition« in the category »cello solo«. Also since 2012 she has held a scholarship from the German Academic Scholarship Foundation and has been supported by Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now. She gained valuable musical inspiration from master classes with renowned cellists such as David Geringas, Yo-Yo Ma, Frans Helmerson, Daniel Müller-Schott, and Kristin von der Goltz, among others.
Gromes celebrated her debut at such renowned festivals as the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, the Munich Opera Festival, the Edinburgh International Festival, the Rheingau Musik Festival, and the Ludwigsburg Schlossfestspiele, and has given guest appearances at the Tonhalle Zurich, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Elbphilharmonie and Laeiszhalle Hamburg, and the concert halls of Berlin, Vienna and Dortmund, furthermore on tours to the United States, Korea, and China. She maintains a close collaboration with the Festival Strings Lucerne, with whom she is on an extensive tour in 2023/24.

A number of cello concertos have already been dedicated to her: by Dominik Giesriegl, Valentin Bachmann and Mario Bürki (double concerto with Cécile Grüebler).
Gromes has been an exclusive artist with Sony Classical since 2016. Her albums are distinguished by creative programming and an explorative spirit. Her albums have won a number of awards: the »German Record Critics' Award« for the CD »Offenbach« as well as the »Bavarian Arts Promotion Award« in the category »Music and Dance«, the »OPUS Klassik« in the category »chamber music/duo« for her CD »Offenbach« together with Julian Riem, and the »Diapason d'Or« for her album »Klengel, Schumann: Romantic Cello Concertos«. Her last album »Femmes« stayed in the classical charts for months in 2023.
Gromes plays a cello by Carlo Bergonzi provided to her from a private source. She is a cultural ambassador for SOS Children's Villages worldwide.