Raphael's Journey So Far...
Early Life
"I was born singing."
Raphael spent his early childhood in the Catskill Mountains where he spent his time playing in meadows and forests, listening to streams and wandering the mountains with his family. He learned that real power was a thunderstorm, and that beauty, jaw dropping, awe-inspiring beauty was everywhere. And that everything tells a story.
After moving to Albany, NY, Raphael veered into in the performing arts headfirst, studying piano from age three, and voice from age seven. His favorite events were storytelling festivals, which showed him that stories could come in many different forms. He absorbed movies and books, reading and watching what intrigued him over and over again, looking for patterns. Soon after, he discovered the wonderful world of theatre.
Busking Years
Every summer from ages 9-16, Raphael would take his keyboard and travel the northeastern coast. He would set up on a busy street corner and busk for hours on end. This experience taught Raphael a great deal about how to connect with audiences, project and channel creative energy, read a crowd and quickly shift on his feet. His father intentionally supervised from a distance, allowing Raphael opportunities to manage his own situations with the general public, developing his interpersonal skills.
High School
Once in high school, Raphael threw himself into theatre and music fully. He pioneered several events, becoming the first student at Albany High School to write a featured musical (see “The Ledge” in Projects), as a sophomore. Junior year, he wrote and conducted "Springtime," a ten-minute musical piece for the wind symphony. As a senior, Raphael was nominated as a semifinalist in the National High School Musical Theatre Awards for his performance as Fagin in Albany High’s performance of Oliver.
​
During these years, Raphael also participated in youth theatre around the region, outside of his high school. He played roles in three Park Playhouse productions, including Oliver, The Pajama Game, and A Charlie Brown Christmas. Most notably, he starred as Tony in a youth production of West Side Story at the Egg Performing Arts Center in 2016.
College Years and Broadway
After graduating high school in the top five of his class, Raphael went on to study music and theatre arts at Brown University. There, his mind was opened to worlds of new ideas, and he invested great amounts of time into learning about writing and directing. It was at Brown that Raphael found a passion for Dungeons and Dragons, and quickly became an expert in the theatre-adjacent role-playing game. Just before his junior year, Raphael was offered an internship to work with the music team of Moulin Rouge! The Musical on Broadway. This was an incredibly rewarding summer. Raphael learned a great deal about the world of Broadway while he assisted with the orchestration, score preparation, and recording of the hit musical.
​
Raphael's favorite experience at Brown was directing A Midsummer Night's Dream, which was called "the best student production" seen at Brown by the board president of the student production company.
Beyond College
The covid-19 pandemic was a tough time for live performing artists. Raphael finished his time at Brown remotely in spring of 2021, and moved to Manhattan shortly afterwards. Without much work available in theatre, Raphael leaned on his role-playing game expertise, and joined the New York Society of Play. This startup company ran summer and afterschool programs, its goal to help children develop good social and creative skills through imaginative communal play. Raphael joined as an instructor, then quickly rose through the ranks, becoming Chief of Staff for the company by 2022. In this job, Raphael learned the joys of teaching, as well as how to apply his artistic thinking to everyday obstacles.
​
After a few years, however, Raphael decided to reconnect with his roots. He moved back to Albany in the summer of 2023 and has been living there since, happy to be able to frequently visit his 104-year-old grandmother. Raphael is currently dedicating himself to his newest line of creative pursuits, as well as teaching and participating in theatre around the community.
Inspirations
Raphael has been inspired by many things throughout his life. He is especially fascinated with the stars, and spends his spare time stargazing and reading about astronomy and astro-physics. He has occasionally studied with world-renowned keyboardist and composer Jordan Rudess, and has integrated those teachings into his personal piano style.
But above all else, Raphael is inspired by the power of stories, no matter what form that story takes. Music, movies, books, oral storytelling, anything. Stories have an incredibly, reality-defying ability to move people, change people, heal people. And that is what Raphael seeks to do most of all.
