Please join us for a pre-concert intro session at 6:15
Born in 1996, Raphaël Feuillâtre starts classical guitar lessons at the age of nine with Hacène Addadi at Cholet Conservatory. In 2012, he enters Michel Grizard’s class at the Conservatory of Nantes. Three years later, he is accepted to Paris National Superior Conservatory of Music and Dance (CNSMDP) into the class of Roland Dyens and obtains his Bachelor of Performing Arts degree in 2017 with highest honors. He is currently working on his Master’s Degree in Classical Guitar Performance with Tristan Manoukian.
Simultaneously, Raphaël is taking classes with Judicaël Perroy, who plays a very important role in his artistic development.
Alongside his studies, Raphaël takes part in various international guitar competitions, obtaining several major awards. In 2017, he wins the 1st prize in the International Guitar Competition Jose Tomas – Villa Petrer in Spain. This enables him to record his first album with JSM Guitar Records in 2018 (Bach, Granados, Tansman, Assad, Dyens) and be invited to multiple festivals in and outside France (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Holland, Montenegro, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, etc.).
Winner of the highly prestigious competition Guitar Fondation of America (GFA) in 2018, Raphaël is preparing the recording of his second opus (Naxos Label, 2019) and a six month tour around USA and Canada, as well as Mexico and Japan during 2019-2020 season.
Raphaël divides his time between performing and teaching. He regularly gives Master Classes during his numerous festival concert trips and has a permanent teaching position at the Music School of Villeneuve-la-Garenne in Paris region.
Pre concert Artists - Michael Bemmels, Matthew Silverman and Luis Medina
Our pre-concert series continues our theme of showcasing newly composed music by Canadian Composers. Please join us at 6:15 for this special pre-concert presentation.
Michael Bemmels is an accomplished guitarist from Richmond, B.C. He holds a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in classical guitar performance from UBC, where he studied under Daniel Bolshoy and Michael Strutt. Throughout his studies at UBC, Michael was awarded nine scholarships, including the Wallace Berry Memorial Prize for his outstanding achievements in music theory courses. In 2013, he won 1st place in both the Kiwanis and the Performing Arts BC Festivals, going on to finish 2nd place in the FCMF National Festival in Waterloo, Ontario. Michael has a wide range of professional experiences as a musician, including teaching guitar, adjudicating at the 2015 BCCM music festival, composing and arranging songs for solo guitar, and working as a music theory Teaching Assistant at UBC. Michael currently teaches guitar at Bravo Music, and World of Music and Arts.
Matt Silverman is from Burnaby, BC, a Capilano University graduate and holds a Bachelor in Performance specializing inthe classical guitar from the University of Victoria. He started playing the bass at age 13 and gradually switched to electric guitar, eventually finding the classical guitar. Matt performs solo or with the Capilano Guitar Trio at public and private events around the lower mainland. More recently he has been composing original instrumental music for the guitar.Matt is also a full time private music instructor at Neil Douglas Guitar Shop in New Westminster where he has over 50 students
Luis Angel Medina is an avid performer and teacher across North America. He studied at Capilano University with Stephen Boswell, where he won numerous awards and scholarships. He concluded his Bachelors of Music at the University of British Columbia. He is now graduated from the Masters degree at the University of Georgia in Athens under the mentorship of acclaimed Canadian guitarist Dr. Daniel Bolshoy where he functioned as Guitar Teacher Assistant. Upon graduation, he was awarded the Director's Excellence Award which recognizes students for excellence in musicianship ,scholarship, leadership, and service. Luis’s career has taken him to perform in various cities in Europe, China and all over North America.