Raphael Severe is a young French clarinet prodigy who was born on 15 September 1994 in Rennes (France).
Raphael Severe received a very early musical education from his mother, a Hungarian pianist and his father, a French clarinettist: the piano, the violin and the cello. Aged 8, he took up the clarinet at the Conservatoire of Nantes while continuing studying the piano.
At 11, he gave his first soloist concert in China when he played Mozart’s clarinet concerto under the baton of Yu Feng, the artistic director of the Beijing Opera Orchestra, for a live television broadcast celebrating 250th birth anniversary of Mozart.
At 12 he was a prize winner of five international competitions including the Tokyo International Competition where he won the first prize and the four special prizes (age-group 20).
At 14, he was admitted to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique of Paris with unanimous acclaim from the jury. He obtained in June 2011 the bachelor’s degree with first class honours.
At 15, Raphael Sévère was the youngest musician and the first clarinettist ever nominated "Revelation Soloist" at the Victoires de la Musique (Classical Music Awards).
Raphael has been invited to play as a soloist with several orchestras : Brittany Orchestra, Picardy Orchestra, Nice Philharmonic Orchestra, Strasburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Garde Républicaine Symphonic Orchestra, Ile de France National Orchestra, State Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Russian Federation, Czech Philharmonic, Sinfonia Varsovia, Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, Hong Kong Wind Kamerata.
His first CD "Recital of French music" recorded live at the age of 12 has been rewarded by Diapason (4 stars), Classic Info Disque (Revelation), Classica Repertoire (Discovery). His second CD "Opus 2" has been rewarded 5 stars.
Récital de musique française - HORT 536. Works by Poulenc, Saint-Saëns, Debussy, Chausson, Pierné.
Concert held on the 23rd of June 2007 in Cholet (France) with Tünde Hajdu, pianist.
Raphaël SEVERE Opus 2 - THYS 004. Works by Bohuslav Martinu, Emil Cossetto, Sergei Taneïev, Witold Lutoslawski, Zoltan Kodaly, Malcolm Arnold, Arthur Honegger, Ferruccio Busoni, Jean Françaix.
Recorded in 2010 with Tünde Hajdu, pianist.