Italian-American composer, keyboardist, and conductor Raphael Fusco has been hailed by the international press as “accomplished and winning" (The New York Times) and “one of the most outstanding composers of his generation" (El Mundo).
His genre-crossing compositions for voice, chamber ensembles, orchestra, and theater engage audiences with soaring melodies, energetic rhythms, colorful harmonies, and rich textures. He has collaborated with leading artists and ensembles such as GRAMMY Award winning saxophonist Branford Marsalis, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, American Ballet Theater, Martha Graham Dance Company and members of the New York Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera Orchestras in prestigious venues across the world.
As an artistic-researcher Raphael's work investigates intermediality, expressive agency and the role of empathy in vocal composition. His interdisciplinary research synthesizes concepts from linguistics, performance practice, aesthetics and psychology to explore the expressive power of song.
Raphael's music is published by Verlag Ries & Erler in Berlin and Universal Edition in Vienna.
This sensational chamber opera draws the audience into an imaginary realm, blurring the line between dreams and reality.
Un’alma innamorata (“A soul in love”) is a cantata for counter-tenor and baroque ensemble on an 18th-century text attributed to Abbé Francesco Mazziotti originally set by G. F.Handel. The piece fuses Jazz, Blues, Spirituals and Neapolitan Song with Baroque structures to relate the timeless message of an anonymous lover who comes to terms with the pains of their fidelity. In the end the moral of the story: “He who wishes to delight in love must first learn how one goes about loving.”
A madrigal for SATB choir a cappella on a text by Tonino Guerra which captures the sounds, scents, and tastes of the Italian countryside
A cycle of six songs on poems by Ryan Vine which explore the surreal experience of life under lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. *Awarded 2nd Prize in the 2023 NATS Art Song Composition Competition
Arrogance battles virtue in this cantata about the legendary singing competition between the Muses and the Pierides. Ovid himself narrates while a cast of 21 singers reenacts the events of that fateful day. In the end the winners are crowned and all join in an epic, foot-stomping fugue.
Written after a series of mass shootings throughout the United States, and revised during the COVID-19 pandemic, this powerful oratorio fuses different styles from Gospel and Blues to Renaissance counterpoint and Romanticism. This original adaptation of the traditional Requiem text in English offers a message of hope and salvation for dark times.
The cantata fuses Jazz, Blues, Spirituals and Neapolitan Song with Baroque textures and structures to relate the timeless message of an anonymous lover who comes to terms with the pains of their fidelity. In the end the moral of the story: “He who wishes to enjoy life must first learn how to love.”
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