Biography

Raphael Sévère was born on 15 September 1994 in France. His mother, a Hungarian pianist and his father, a French clarinettist gave him a very early musical education : piano, violin and cello.

Aged 8, Raphael took to the clarinet at the Conservatoire of Nantes in his father's class where he showed exceptional talent for the instrument. Eighteen months later, he jumped not less than eight levels and was directly admitted to the top-grade class while performing Poulenc's sonata and Jolivet's Ascesis.

At 10, Raphael has been awarded 1st Prize and Jury special Prize at the Lempdes National Competition in France.

At 12, he was prize winner of five international competitions (age-group 20) including Tokyo International Competition where he won 1st Prize and Jury special Prize.

At 14, he has been admitted to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris with unanimous acclaim of the jury.

At 15, Raphael Sévère is the youngest artist and the first clarinettist who has been nominated "Revelation Soloist" at the "Victoires de la musique classique" (Classical Music Awards).

 

Raphaël had his first international successes at the age of 11. 

Three years only after starting to learn the clarinet, Raphael gave his first soloist concert in China.

On 27 January 2006, day of the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth, he played Mozart's clarinet concerto with the Macau Youth Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Yu Feng, artistic director of the Beijing Opera. This TV broadcasted performance was held at the Cultural Centre of Macau in front of 1200 people.

During the same season he also gave a concert for the Hong Kong radio including works for clarinet as well as for piano solo, and made sensation at the Athenaeum Hall in Bucharest, performing live for the TV in the presence of the royal family of Romania.

In February 2007 at twelve, he was the youngest soloist invited to the French festival La Folle Journée de Nantes, playing both the clarinet and the piano.

Guest again in May 2008, Raphael also performed at La Folle Journée in Tokyo and The French May in Hong Kong, playing concertos by Weber, Rossini and Mendelssohn.

In 2009 season, he appears at the Medoc, Radio France, Feldkirch, Dinard, La Roche Posay Festivals, with Alain Planès, Jerome Ducros, Gerard Caussé, Jerome Pernoo, Sarah and Deborah Nemtanu.

Since the age of 11, Raphael has been performing with different orchestras : Orchestre de Bretagne, Symphonistes d'Aquitaine, Württembergischen Kammerorchester Heilbronn, Wind Kamerata of Hong Kong, Macau Youth Symphony Orchestra.

In 2010, he plays with Orchestre National d'Ile de France (dir. Yoel Levi), Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg (dir. Marc Albrecht), Orchestre de Picardie (dir. Arie van Beek).

He recently took part in several programmes on the French radio and TV.

His first CD-recording devoted to French music and published by Hortus Editions on November 2007 has been very well reviewed.