Raúl da Costa

"... his approach was full of fire and energy, beautifully under-pedalled with excellent phrasing and not overblown. For me Raúl is a true artist with a great future and not merely a pianist." - Michael Moran, critic of the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw and the International Paderewski Competition in Bydgoszcz. 

Born in 1993, Raul da Costa started his musical studies at the age of seven in his hometown's Music School, where he first studied piano with Professor Luis Amaro and then with Emília Coelho. From 2006 to 2011, he studied in Academia de Música S.Pio X in Vila do Conde, Portugal, with Professor Álvaro Teixeira Lopes.

Since 2004, he has given various recitals as a guest of the renowned Portuguese composer and conductor António Victorino D'Almeida. He made his orchestral debut at the age of 12 in Casa da Música, Porto.

Raúl da Costa has given recitals in the most prestigious halls in Portugal such as in Casa Da Música, Centro Cultural de Belém and in the Teatro S. Luís in Lisbon, among many others. He has also given recitals at the Spring Festival in Vila Praia de Âncora (Chopin's Concerto no.1), in the Young Musicians Cicle in Portimão, in the Saint Pére de Rodes International Music Festival, in Spain, in the Póvoa de Varzim International Music Festival, in the Dias da Música International Festival in Lisbon, in the Marvão International Music Festival, in the Kammermusiktage Ahrenshoop, and in the Hommage à Yehudi Menuhin Festival in Paris. He has also given recitals in Germany, France, Spain, Poland, England and Czech Republic. 

With a vast repertoire from Bach to Zimmermann, chamber music has represented a main point in Raúl’s career, specially the collaboration with Raquel Camarinha and Bruno Monsaingeon. He has played under the baton of Javier Viceiro, Theodore Kuchar, Joseph Swensen and with various orchestras such as the Porto Symphony Orchestra or the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra. 

Raúl ist the 1st Prize winner of the various international piano competitions, including the San Sebastian International Piano Competition, the Scriabin International Competition in Paris and in the Young Pianist of the North International Piano Competition in Newcastle. He was also awarded for various times the special prize for best performance of a Portuguese music. He was a prizewinner of the 1st European Union Piano Competition in Prague (representing Portugal) with only 16 years of age. Raúl is a scholar of the renowned Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe, the Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Foundation, and presently of the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon.  In 2016, Raúl da Costa won the 1st Prize and all special prizes in the ZF-Musikpreis International Piano Competition.

He has made live recordings for both Portuguese and foreign Radio and Television, such as for the NDR and SWR radios in Germany. 

Raúl profited of the work with distinguished artists such as Maria João Pires, Dmitri Bashkirov, Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Malcolm Bilson, Boris Berezovsky, Roger Muraro, Tatiana Zelikman and Lev Natochenny.

Raúl is now studying in the Hochschule für Musik, Medien und Drama in Hannover, where he was part of the class of the renowned Professor Karl-Heinz Kämmerling. Currently is Raúl studying under tutorship of Professor Bernd Goetzke.