1. The international press and personalities from across the international musical spectrum
have referred to him as:
“a musician of great artistic versatility,”
“a pianist who can truly make the piano sing,”
“a pianist of supreme technique and profound temperament that never descends
into the vulgar or pretentious,”
Liev Naumov said “Musically and emotionally he understands everything!”
Joaquin Achucarro called him “a great musical intelligence,”
Boris Petruchansky labeled him “A genius.”
Raffaele Mani was born in Florence, Italy and took his first piano lesson with Marisa
Nencioni Nobili at the age of 13. He graduated from the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory of
Florence under the guidance of Lucia Passaglia. From 1991 to 1993 he studied with Liev
Naumov at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Moscow, in a program of advanced studies
open only to a selected number of students.
In 1994 Raffaele was awarded the “Joel Estes Tate” scholarship and moved to Dallas,
Texas in the United States, where he was admitted to the Artist Certificate program of
Southern Methodist University and studied with Joaquin Achucarro. He attended the
great Spanish pianist’s Master Classes at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, receiving the
“Diploma di Merito” and a scholarship.
In 1996 he was awarded the “Geo Oeldridge Scholarship,” which enabled him to
continue his piano and academic studies at Southern Methodist University’s Meadows
School of the Arts. In 1998 he received a Master’s degree in Piano Performance and was
inducted into the Pi Kappa Lambda music honour society. In the same year in Florence,
he was awarded the “Lapi-Hiscott” scholarship.
Raffaele participated in benefit concerts of Amnesty International and the Italian Red
Cross and played to raise funds for one of the Comboni Missions in Africa as well as for
other youth educational institutions in Germany. In recent years he has been performing
for important international concert organizations, in chamber ensembles, in solo recitals
and as a soloist with orchestras. Beyond the classical repertory, he has played the
complete piano works of Arnold Schoenberg (including the Pierrot Lunaire) and Luigi
Dallapiccola (including the Piccolo Concerto per Muriel Couvreux and Inni for three
pianos) as well as works by many other twentieth-century composers.
Since 2003, he has lived in Germany and teaches at the Bad Nauheim Music School . In
2007 he recorded world premier in the U.S. of “The Complete Works for Piano and

2. Piano and Orchestra” of Luigi Dallapiccola (META records) with the “Meadows
Symphony Orchestra” conducted by Paul Phillips. Critics wrote “Raffaele Mani plays
with the highest sensibility” (West Allgemeine Zeitung). The work was one of the best
reviewed recordings of the year by the Rondo Music Magazine which said “nomen (est)
omen,” or “Dallapiccola’s music lies in the best hands.”
Raffaele’s career now combines performing and teaching. In the past years he has
developed a performance method that blends classical concepts of the Russian and Italian
Piano Schools with the revolutionary ideas of the unique and outstanding School of
Joaquin Achucarro. His students have been awarded many prizes in German piano and
chamber music competitions, including several first prizes in State and Federal final
rounds of “Jugend Musiziert.” Several of his pupils now study in some of the most
prestigious German and American Universities.
In 2008, he assumed the role of Artistic Director and piano teacher of the International
Music Seminars “Appassionato.” In 2009 his composition “Preludio d’Autunno” was
chosen as soundtrack of a documentary about the life and the works of the Italian painter
Antonio Ligabue. He has given Masterclasses in Germany, Austria and Italy. Recently,
Raffaele recorded the Thomas Hanelt’s choral version of 12 songs of Franz Schubert’s
“Winterreise” with the Motettenchor Frankfurt.