Composer Raphaël Lucas has been hailed as a “major talent, with excellent craft and a remarkable melodic gift” by American composer Gunther Schuller.



His one act opera Confession won the 2010-2012 “Best Contemporary Chamber Opera” awarded by the National Opera Association. It received four performances in April 2009 at the Westchester Performing Art Center, in New York State. The chamber orchestra version was premiered on January 6th, 2012 at the University of Memphis, Tennessee, as the featured opera of the annual convention of the National Opera Association.

In September 2011, the label Albany Records released the first recording of Confession in its version for large orchestra, performed by the SUNY Purchase Opera Company and Orchestra under the baton of Hugh Murphy. The American Record Guide wrote: “his style is lush, but doesn’t act as if the 20th century didn’t happen. There are shifting harmonies, spooky orchestrations and an elegant tension between darkness and beauty”.



Among his most recent activities, M. Lucas has been featured in january 2014 in an interview on France Musiques' radio program 'Le jour d'avant' (LINK). The French première of two pieces by soloists of the National Symphony Orchestra of Montpellier also took place in September 2013. Raphaël Lucas is currently preparing a set of duets for violin and alto to be premièred in March 2014.

His catalog of compositions includes a piece for large orchestra commissioned by the Hérault’s Departmental Association for Dance and Music (ADDM 34), a French public organization for art support based in Montpellier, France. It also includes a cycle of songs for soprano and piano on poems by French author Irène Gayraud, several pieces for chorus as well as chamber music for various kinds of combinations, including percussion ensemble and string quartet.

Born in Sète, in the south of France, Raphaël Lucas first pursued a career as a percussionist before devoting himself entirely to composition. He received first prizes in Percussion performance, Solfège, Harmony, Counterpoint and Piano from the Conservatory of music of Montpellier, France, and performed as a percussionist in several important formations in the south of France, including the National Opera and Symphony Orchestra of Montpellier. He moved to the United States in 2007 in order to pursue formal training in composition. He earned a Bachelor's Degree in composition from the State University of New York College at Purchase and recently received a Master’s Degree from the same institution. Raphaël Lucas also studied at the Manhattan School of Music under the tutelage of Dr. Nils Vigeland. He currently resides in Paris.