ABOUT

Rafael has been a Bass Player with the United States Army Bands for 16 years and is currently with the United States Training and Doctrine Command Band at Fort Eustis, Virginia. In 2021, Rafael earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, VA. He holds a Masters in Music from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL, and a Bachelor in Music from Florida International University in Miami, FL.

Rafael has studied classical double bass with Donovan Stokes, Jeff Bradetich, Milton Masciadri, Jeffrey Weisner, Kevin Maudlin, Luis Gomez-Imbert, and Federico Silva. He has performed in masterclasses for Franco Petracchi, Giuseppe Ettorre, Bertram Turetzky, Joel Quarrington, Lawrence Angell, Alain Bourguignon, François Rabbath, Frank Proto, Todd Seeber, Lawrence Wolfe and Paul Ellison. He has studied electric bass with Nick Orta and Matt Bonelli, and Jazz Bass with Chuck Bergeron and Dennis Marks.

He has performed with the New World Symphony, Miami City Ballet, Florida Grand Opera, Crystal Cruises, and Royal Caribbean. While in the Army, he has performed with Jazz greats Bobby Shew, Nestor Torres, and Wycliffe Gordon. Rafael attributes his love for music to growing up listening to his father’s LP collection, played constantly. He considers Classical, Jazz, Latin, and Rock influential in his musical development.