About me
Born in Alicante (Spain ) Rafael was on stage for circa 25 years. He initially studied under Adrian Thompson and Sue McCulloch at the GSMD in London, before meeting James McCray in The Hague around 2006. In all these years he has sang roles such us Elvino (La Sonnambula), Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia) Ramiro (La Cenerentola), Tamino(Die Zauberflüte) Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Wilhem (Mignon), Gonsalve (L’heure e spagnole),Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore ), Alfredo (La Traviata), Duca (Rigoletto), Xerxes (Xerxes)Don José (Carmen),Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), McDuff (Macbeth), Rodolfo (La Boheme), Riccardo (Un Ballo in Maschera ), Pollione (Norma ), Cavaradossi (Tosca) ,Manrico (Il Trovatore), Des Grieux (Manon) and Orlando ( Orlando Paladino ) .
In 2014 a carcinoma was detected in his stomach (Today in full remission) and he was force to retire before his prime. Ever since his early retirement he has dedicated all his efforts in preaching the old Italian school of singing especially that of Arturo Melocchi, a method he learned from the latest James McCray in The Hague. McCray learned this methodology from Mario Del Monaco himself as well as Rina Del Monaco, Mario’s wife.
Rafael teaches worldwide from his studio in Alicante (Spain) and is in close contact with Maestro Fulvio Massa ( Student of Paride Venturi) . Rafael teaches a wide variety of voices both male and female from countries that go from Japan, Australia, Germany , Italy, USA, France, Denmark, Korea, China, the U.K, Sweden, Costa Rica and of course Spain.