Rafael Marino Arcaro

  Rafael is currently a London Symphony Orchestra Artist for the Panufnik Composers Scheme 2022/23 and has just finished working with the London Philharmonic Orchestra as part of their Young Artist Programme for the 2021/22 season, for which Rafael wrote his Violin Concerto, op.14. He is also working toward his PhD at King’s College London under the guidance of Sir George Benjamin. Rafael holds a Master’s in Composition from the Royal Academy of Music and has recently finished recording his op.10 – a 32-minute cello and piano sonata in 4 movements – funded by the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust.
   Marino Arcaro just finished work on his ‘Bigato na Goiaba Branca’ for solo guitar, a 30-minute work in 10 movements commissioned by Fábio Zanon. He is currently working on his first opera, writing the libretto for a 40-minute half-staged work for 2 singers and 13 instrumentalists. And, in keeping with his tireless-revisions work style Rafael is currently finishing his ‘Aggravations’ for solo piano (2020-23), a 40-minute set of 10 sharply different short pieces, and his ‘Keine Natur’, 6 death sentences for dectet (2021-23).
   Rafael’s music has been described as “(…) groundbreaking, moving, exhilarating, intense, and strikingly original…” by composer Steve Goss on the occasion of the premiere of his Op. 7, “Concerto Apinayé” for Guitar & Orchestra and as “(…) a musical embodiment of the nature of the Brazilian rain forest and its indigenous people, savagely tender and wildly beautiful, calling for extreme treatment of the instruments involved. (…) this performance was greeted with gasps of astonishment and rapturous approval.” Graham Marshall, Rochdale Music Society. on the occasion of the premiere of his op.9 at Alwyn Festival.
   Rafael has enjoyed working with many institutions such as the Royal Opera House in London on two occasions, the Royal Academy of Music’s Guitar Department, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and the London Symphony Orchestra – amongst others. Marino Arcaro has also been commissioned by solo performers and chamber groups such as international classical music star cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and guitarist Plínio Fernandes, guitarists Vitor Noah, Giacomo Susani and Brad Johnson, accordionist Iñigo Mikeleiz-Berrade, the baroque ensemble Les Laurentines, the cello-flute duo Improv Indigo, flute-guitar Meraki Duo, cellist Sarah Gait, among many others. Rafael has also worked with musicians and groups such as acclaimed percussionist Colin Currie, pianist Zubin Kanga, the Chroma Ensemble, Tritium Trio, CoMA London, the Lontano Ensemble and others, as well as having his music played by the Ensemble Modern in Festival de Campos do Jordão in Brazil. His music has also been featured in exhibitions around the world such as the nationwide Brazilian exhibition FILE in 2018.
  Furthermore, Marino Arcaro’s book of preludes for the solo guitar has been the focus of a Master thesis by prominent young guitarist Vitor Noah with the supervision of guitarist and pedagogue Paolo Pegoraro at Die Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Graz, in Austria, where his guitar music was praised by the examination jury with the presentation of a lecture-recital and a research paper by guitarist Vitor Noah.
  Rafael grew up in the countryside of Brazil and moved to São Paulo for his Bachelor where he graduated in Philosophy of Communication and Film-Making in 2012. Following that, he did his Music Bachelor’ studies on his own as a self-taught student with the aid of music theory professor Marisa Ramires and internationally recognised guitarist and producer Paulo Martelli. After a brief course of studies in the Masters in Musicology at the University of São Paulo, Rafael got accepted straight into the Masters Programme in Composition at the Royal Academy of Music in 2016 where he studied with Morgan Hayes and Chris Austin before starting his PhD at King’s College London.