Artist(s)

Robin de Raaff was born on December 5, 1968 in Breda, the Netherlands. He was raised in a very musical family where classical music and popular music were part of his daily life. As a child he received weekly piano lessons from his father and practised daily. De Raaff discovered his own musical world through playing the bass guitar, which he taught himself to play. As a teenager, under the explosive influence of fretless bass guitar legend Jaco Pastorius, De Raaff switched to fretless bass guitar, introducing him to a new world of complex instrumental music, and ultimately Jazz.
But even more passionately, already as a young teenager, composing his own music was his most important musical expression. Starting with pop songs, with ever increasing instrumental parts, larger symphonic proportions were soon imposed which inevitably lead him towards the great classical composers. Inspired by this newly discovered music De Raaff developed a musical style for symphony orchestra installing the necessity to compose in full score. After enrolling as a composition student at the Sweelinck Conservatory of Amsterdam, playing the bass guitar moved to the background, but his very broad musical interest would greatly influence his view on style in contemporary Classical music.
De Raaff first studied composition with Geert van Keulen and later with Theo Loevendie, with whom he graduated cum laude in 1997. In 1999 De Raaff had the special privilege of being invited to work as George Benjamin’s only composition student at the Royal College of Music in London where he also studied with Julian Anderson.

De Raaff is currently the Coordinator of the Composition Department at the Rotterdam Conservatory of Music (Codarts) where he has been a professor of composition and orchestration since 2001.

Composer(s)

Press

I recommend the Entangled Tales CD for anyone wantlng an introduction to this signlficant 21st -century compositlonal voice.
The Whole Note, 01-2-2018

The fact that three major Dutch orchestra's put there forces together for an amazing Dutch composer deserves all credits.
Luister, 17-7-2017

Robin de Raaff: Remember this name, his third symphony is a masterpiece
Crescendo, 14-7-2017

This CD with works by the Dutch composer Robin de Raaff invites the listener to a cornucopia of new sound experiences which Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Neeme Järvi and Antonello Manacorda are eager to display committedly with their excellent orchestras. 
Pizzicato, 12-6-2017

Although the title of this album suggests, is a short title piece not the defining characteristics of the album.
Mania, 31-5-2017

The three pieces for the orchestra that Challenge Records has collected by composer Robin de Raaff on the Entangled Tales CD provides a beautiful steel chart the work of this particular composer.
Nieuwe Noten, 26-5-2017

Strange composer, Robin de Raaff (1968), one of the best we have; how is that possible, so complex but so accessible?
De Groene Amsterdammer, 10-5-2017

From the very first notes, De Raaff builds an intriguing soundtrack that delivers all her secrets, but intrigues immediately.
Mania, 21-4-2017

(...) The composer plays with the light-dark contrast into a four-part structure that begins to evolve into dark clouds, tangled layers and finally to complete dilution and solidification. (...)
De Volkskrant, 14-4-2017

(...) A miracle is a big word, but inspired workmanship, it certainly is.
NRC, 13-4-2017

(...) The music from Robin de Raaf doesn't let itself describe easily. (...)
Opus Klassiek, 14-3-2017

"(Laura) Aikin makes de Raaffs technically demanding music sound like childs play, mastered with a uncomparable naturalness and impressive ease."
klassik.com, 25-1-2016

" (...) It is an intelligent if not entirely successful attempt on a tempting but, perhaps in the end, a dramatically intractable subject. (...) "
The Guardian, 16-12-2015