Raphaela Gromes

Elegance, dedication, technical perfection, expressiveness, range in dynamics and vibrato: nothing is lacking here. All these qualities, combined with a rare degree of perfection, elevate this recording to the status of a reference recording. (...) An hour full of joy.
— Le Diapason, 02/2021, Michel Stockhem

"Arguably the most successful German cellist of today."
— Rondo Magazin, 2021

Since 2016, Raphaela Gromes has been an exclusive artist with Sony Classical. Her albums are distinguished by their creative programming and sense of discovery. Almost every CD features a world premiere recording, such as Jacques Offenbach’s "Hommage à Rossini," Klengel's 3rd Cello Concerto (with the RSB Orchestra and Nicholas Carter on "Romantic Cello Concertos"), or the original version of Richard Strauss's Sonata Op. 6.

Her latest album, "Femmes," presents 23 female composers from Hildegard von Bingen to Lera Auerbach and was created in close collaboration with the Archiv Frau und Musik in Frankfurt. All her albums have appeared in the Top 10 of the German Classical Charts and have won numerous awards. In 2019, she received the German Record Critics' Award and the Bavarian Art Promotion Prize in the category "Music and Dance" for her CD "Offenbach." In 2020, she won the OPUS KLASSIK award in the Chamber Music Duo category for her CD "Offenbach" with her piano partner Julian Riem, as well as the Diapason Nouveauté for her album "Richard Strauss – Cello Sonatas." In February 2021, her album "Klengel – Schumann: Romantic Cello Concertos" was awarded the Diapason d’Or.

Raphaela Gromes made her solo debut in autumn 2005 with Friedrich Gulda's Cello Concerto, for which she received enthusiastic acclaim from both the audience and the press. As a young student, she began her studies at the age of 14 at the Mendelssohn-Bartholdy University in Leipzig with Peter Bruns and continued in 2010 with Wen-Sinn Yang at the Munich University of Music and later with Reinhard Latzko at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. She also received important musical inspiration from master classes with renowned cellists such as David Geringas, Yo-Yo Ma, Frans Helmerson, Natalia Gutman, Jens Peter Maintz, László Fenyö, Daniel Müller-Schott, Kristin von der Goltz, Wolfgang Boettcher, Anner Bylsma, and Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt.

Raphaela Gromes has debuted at prestigious festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Ludwigsburg Castle Festival, the Rheingau Music Festival, and the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, as well as the Jungfrau Music Festival Interlaken, the Vorsprung Festival of the Audi Summer Concerts in Ingolstadt with Kent Nagano, the Munich Opera Festival, the Marvão International Music Festival, the Mondsee Music Days, the Edinburgh International Festival, and on tours in Asia and the USA.

She has performed at the Isarphilharmonie Munich, Tonhalle Zurich, the Philharmonie Essen, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, multiple times at the Elbphilharmonie and Laeiszhalle Hamburg, and in the concert halls of Berlin, Vienna, and Dortmund.

She has a close collaboration with the Festival Strings Lucerne, with whom she is on an extensive tour in the 2023/24 season.

Several cello concertos have been dedicated to her: In 2012, the premiere of a cello concerto by Dominik Giesriegl took place. In 2013, the premiere of Valentin Bachmann's Cello Concerto with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Budweis under the direction of David Svec followed. The third world premiere, the double concerto "Chroma" written by Mario Bürki in 2014 for Raphaela Gromes and Cécile Grüebler, was performed with the Swiss Military Orchestra. Other concerts followed with Kent Nagano and the Czech Philharmonic and Christoph Altstaedt and the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn. In 2022, she premiered Igor Loboda's concerto "L’Arcobaleno della vita" for cello, piano, and string orchestra with the Georgian Chamber Orchestra and Julian Riem.

Raphaela Gromes has been awarded numerous prizes, including the Music Promotion Prize of the Concert Association Ingolstadt, the 1st Prize of the Richard Strauss Competition in 2012, the German Music Competition Prize in the category Cello Solo in 2016, and was included in the Federal Selection of Young Soloists by the German Music Council. Her accolades also include the 1st Prize of the Kulturkreis Gasteig Competition in 2012 and 2016, and the 1st Prize of the International Concorso Fiorindo Turin in 2013. In November 2019, she received the Bavarian Art Promotion Prize in the category "Music and Dance."

In the same year, she received the German Record Critics' Award for her CD "Offenbach." In 2020, she won the OPUS KLASSIK award in the Chamber Music Duo category for her CD "Offenbach" with her piano partner Julian Riem, as well as the Diapason Nouveauté for her album "Richard Strauss – Cello Sonatas." In February 2021, her album "Klengel – Schumann: Romantic Cello Concertos" was awarded the Diapason d’Or.

Her latest release, "Femmes," showcasing works by 23 female composers from nine centuries, stayed in the classical charts for months in 2023.

She plays a cello by Carlo Bergonzi, which is privately loaned to her.

Raphaela Gromes is a cultural ambassador for the José Carreras Leukemia Foundation and SOS Children's Villages worldwide.