Ralph van Raat

Ralph van Raat (born 1978) is a Dutch classical pianist.

Biography and career

Ralph van Raat studied music at the Conservatory of Amsterdam and musicology at the University of Amsterdam, with Ton Hartsuiker and Willem Brons. He completed his piano studies cum laude in 2002, and was admitted to The Provision for Outstanding Musicians, a special course offered in addition to the standard curriculum. He also graduated cum laude in musicology. Van Raat then studied with Claude Helffer in Paris, Ursula Oppens at Northwestern University, Liisa Pohjola in Finland, and Pierre-Laurent Aimard at the Musikhochschule in Cologne.

Van Raat has won prizes in a number of piano competitions, in both the Netherlands and other countries. He was awarded a Borletti-Buitoni Fellowship in 2005, and received the Prijs Klassiek (Classics Prize) of Dutch radio and television broadcaster NTR in 2010.

Van Raat has performed as a recitalist and soloist in Europe and around the world, and has a special interest in contemporary classical music. He has performed with many orchestras, including the London Sinfonietta, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Radio Chamber Philharmonic, the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Frankfurt, the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra and the Dortmunder Philharmoniker. He has worked closely with conductors such as Valery Gergiev, JoAnn Falletta, David Robertson, Stefan Asbury, Michel Tabachnik, Jac van Steen and Otto Tausk. Van Raat was artist-in-residence of the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra in 2010. He has also performed at a number of music festivals, including the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in the UK, the Berliner Festspiele, and the Tanglewood Summer Festival in the United States.