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About
Raffaele Pe is today one of the most appreciated Italian countertenors on the international scene. Gramophone Music Magazine has praised his “bright and lucid voice”, while the French magazine Diapason acclaimed his “timbre capiteux et à l’élocution savoureuse”.
Raffaele’s performances have already encountered the admiration of the audience in Europe, United States and Japan for his capacity to render with passion, spontaneity, and historical competence a repertorire that spans from baroque to modern opera, from contemporary music to the rarely visited “recitar cantando”.
To this musical period is dedicated in fact his first solo album: The Medici Castrato (Glossa 2015). The work pays an homage to Gualberto Magli, among the protagonists of the premiere of Monteverdi’s Orfeo. It received excellent reviews by some of the most prominent international critics (Gramophone Music Magazine, Opera Now, Early Music Today, Voix des Arts, Diapason, Forum Opera, L’Opera, Amadeus, Classic Voice, MUSICA), and it was presented at the Berlin Philharmonie as part of the prestigious Deuthschland Radio Kultur debut series.
More and more in demand on the operatic stages, in the summer 2015 he intrepreted Delio – the lead male role – in Francesco Cavalli’s Veremonda, at the side of Vivica Geneaux, director Stefano Vizioli (Spoleto Festival, Usa, 2015); he was Ottone in Monteverdi’s Incoronazione di Poppea di Monteverdi for its first time represented in Japan directed by Claudio Cavina and La Venexiana, with Roberta Mameli; he also appeared as Leone in the premiere in modern time of Francesco Gasparini’s Bajazet at Teatro Opera Barga, then recorded for Glossa.
Among his future operatic engagements Raffaele will be Linceo, coprotagonist in Cavalli’s Ipermestra at Glyndebourne, conducted by William Christie and directed by Graham Vick, Oberon in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Teatro Ponchielli Cremona, then revived at Brescia, Bergamo, Como, Pavia and Reggio Emilia, he will interpret the role of Arsace in Handel’s Berenice at the Göttingen Internation Handel Festival for David Bates’ La Nuova Musica, and will appear as Spirit in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at Teatro Filarmonico di Verona, under the baton of Stefano Montanari directed by Marina Bianchi.
Raffaele’s career was very quick. He started his studies in singing and organ when he was a chorister Cappella musicale del Duomo di Lodi, under Pietro Panzetti. He continued his training in London with Colin Baldy and Nicholas Clapton, then in Bologna with Fernando Cordeiro Opa. He attended masterclasses with legendary countertenor James Bowman, Sarah Walker, and Sonia Prina. In 2009 he was chosen by Sir John Eliot Gardiner to be part of the Monteverdi Apprenticeship Scheme, in 2012 was selected for the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme in Aldeburgh.
Raffaele Pe collabortes with directors of the likes of sir John Eliot Gardiner, Paul McCreesh, René Jacobs, Nicholas McGegan, Vaclav Luks, Ottavio Dantone, Alessandro De Marchi, Stefano Montanari, Andrea Marcon, Antonio Florio, Andrea Battistoni, Leonardo García Alarcón, Claudio Cavina.
In the latest seasons he gave solo recitals and concerts at festivals like MiTo settembre musica, Ravenna Festival, London Handel Festival, Roma Festival Barocco, Bologna Festival, Parma Traettorie, Paviabarocca, Kiev Festival Barocco, Beirut Chants.
Raffaele was the first countertenor to be invited to sing at Arena di Verona in Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana in 2014 and in 2015 directed by Andrea Battistoni.
Raffaele’s performances have been broadcasted by some major radio stations and televisions, including BBC, MezzoTV, Culturebox, Radio France, RAI, RSI, ORF, NDR, Antena2 and Polskie Radio. He has recorded for Glossa, Harmonia Mundi, Arcana, Resonus Classics, and ORF. Among his upcoming releases (Glossa 2016) Raffaele will appear as the Evangelist in Gaetano Veneziano’s John Passion directed by Antonio Florio and also in Sospiri d’amore, a recording of Arias and Duets from the operas by Francesco Cavalli for Claudio Cavina’s La Venexiana.
Raffaele Pe is founder and artistic director of the ensemble La Lira di Orfeo, with which in December 2015 he started and artistic residency at Fondazione Cosway Lodi, a center for the dialogue between early music and contemporary cultures