Robin de Raaff

Robin de Raaff (Dutch pronunciation: ['robin də ‘raː f]; born in 1968) is a Dutch composer and bassist. He has written five symphonies, eleven concertos, an oratorio entitled Atlantis, and two main stage operas. The last opera Waiting for Miss Monroe is about the tragic death of Marilyn Monroe whose role was sung by American soprano Laura Aikin. His first opera entitled RAAFF 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 coproduced by the Holland Festival.

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.

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
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 Schönberg, 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.

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, 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. Amongst them five Symphonies, four Concertos, an orchestral work, a composition for chamber orchestra, an Oratorio, two String Quartets, and a number of vocal and instrumental chamber works.

In 2012 De Raaff changed publisher from Donemus, who represented his work exclusively since 1993, to Deuss Music 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

 * 1995: AG Kunst Prijs, an art reward for his Equilibre II for clarinet and bass clarinet, Athomus for string quartet, & 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
 * 1998: Bernhard van den Sigtenhorst Meyer Prize from GeNeCo for his Double concerto for clarinet, bass clarinet and orchestra.
 * 2008: Toonzetters Prize for his Violin Concerto No. 1 "Angelic echoes"

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

Albums

 * Jaap van Zweden conducts De Raaff – Violin Concerto No. 1 "Angelic Echoes" and Symphony No.1 "Tanglewood Tales". Tasmin Little violin solo and Radio Philharmonic Orchestra EtCetera KTC 1593
 * Waiting for Miss Monroe – 2CD; Recording of the World Premiere in 2012, at the anniversary of Marilyn Monroe's death. Challenge Records CC 72685
 * Orphic Descent – Piano Concerto No. 2 "Circulus", Orphic descent, and Violin Concerto No. 2 "North Atlantic Light". CC 72942 Challenge Records
 * Atlantis – Oratorio on Atlantis by Hart Crane, Plato, and texts by the composer. Challenge Records CC72808
 * Entangled Tales – Cello Concerto, Entangled Tales, and Symphony No. 3 "Illumination...Eclipse". Challenge Records CC 72747
 * Melodies Unheard – Symphony No. 2 "Two Worlds Colliding" for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra, Symphony No. 1 "Tanglewood Tales", and Symphony No. 4 "Melodies Unheard". A Symphony of Songs on Poems by Emily Dickinson. Challenge Records CC 72762
 * Stolen Back from Time – 2CD; Violin Concerto No. 1 "Angelic Echoes", Percussion Concerto, Double Concerto for clarinet, bass clarinet and orchestra, Unisono (Remastered) for Orchestra, Ennea's domein for septet, Clarinet Concerto, and In Memoriam Dmitri Shostakovich for 2 Trumpets, two Horns and Orchestra. Attacca Records ATT 2017152
 * Doelen Ensemble performs De Raaff – Der Einsame im Herbst, Flute Concerto, Megumi-Suite
 * RAAFF – Recording of the World Premiere in 2004
 * Orchestral Works – Piano Concerto No. 1, Unisono, Concerto for Orchestra

Appearances

 * Contradictie IVa (1998/rev. 2014 Deuss Music) CD Ladder of Escape 11, Fie Schouten bass clarinet solo, ATT2014140
 * Soundscapes - Sonate for Violin and Piano No. 2 "North Atlantic Light", Carnegie Hall version Challenge Classics. Tosca Opdam Violin & Alexander Ullman piano
 * Untangled Tales (2011) for Orchestra, appears on RECHERCHEN by the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie conducted by Lothar Zagrosek
 * Gemini Gestures (1998, rev 2003), for 2 string quartets, BV Haast, Schoenberg Quartet and the Mondriaan Quartet
 * Un visage d'emprunt (1991, rev 2001) for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, catalogue number CJX6217
 * Der Einsame im Herbst (1998) for large ensemble is named after the 2nd movement (Der Einsame im Herbst) of Das Lied vonder der Erde by Gustav Mahler, appears on NM Classics 92121