I am a classical guitarist that plays at weddings, private parties, or other ceremonial events. The classical guitar repertoire I specialize in consists of Spanish/Flamenco, Classical, Baroque, Romantic, popular song arrangements (Beatles etc.) and jazz standard arrangements.
Hired Rafael to do mellow guitar music for our party. He was great! Easy to work with. Plays beautifully. Even my other musician friends said, "He's really good!" I would hire him again in a minute.
Raphael played guitar for a wedding and was absolutely perfect! Not only is he a talented musician who played a variety of music in the genre we requested — he is also calm, professional, kind and communicative. We highly recommend Raphael for events.
Photos from this event
I can't say enough great things about Raphael. We hired him for our wedding in August 2022. A friend of ours had given us an incredible gift for our wedding: she composed a sonata for classical guitar to accompany our wedding procession. The first guitarist we hired gave up on learning the sonata, finding it too complicated. When we reached out to Raphael, we were worried that we were going to have to abandon the incredible gift from our friend.
But Raphael diligently learned the piece and sent us previews as he mastered it. We then worked with him to select other songs for the pre-ceremony and recessional, and he had incredible selections to suggest: achingly pretty spanish classical pieces and exceptionally tasteful, yet unique modern selections: a Stevie Wonder arrangement, a Beatles tune, a piece from a Miyazaki movie.
Raphael was responsive, considerate, and helpful throughout the planning process, and played the pieces flawlessly on the wedding day. We got many, many compliments on the musical accompaniment to the day.
We doubled the amount that Raphael originally asked for, and gave him a tip, and still felt like we got an exceptional value working with him.
Price Range: $50 - $300
Gig Length: 60 - 180 minutes
Languages: English, Japanese
Raphael has been playing the guitar since the age of ten, when he and his two brothers asked for musical instruments during Christmas break of 2006. Ever since then, Raphael has had a love for the guitar studying with a variety of instructors from different parts of the world, such as in Upstate New York; Kyoto, Japan; and Northern and Southern California. Throughout his travels along with his family, he studied musical genres such as blues, rock, metal, and jazz. In addition to learning these musical genres, Raphael started the journey as a classical guitarist at the age of eighteen in the summer of 2014. After a year of doing classical guitar lessons with his first private instructor Sean O'Connor, Raphael made it into the CSUN music department to study with world renown performer of the LAGQ (Los Angeles Guitar Quartet) John Dearman for two years while also being a part of the CSUN guitar quartet. In the fall of 2017, Raphael moved to Sacramento, CA to study with Richard Savino at CSU Sacramento State until Fall 2019. Raphael has also had masterclasses and private instruction from world renown artists at international classical guitar festivals including Roland Dyens, Jason Vieaux, David Russell, Scott Tennant, Eliot Fisk, Bill Kanengiser, Johannes Möller, Judicaël Perroy, Pepe Romero, Sergio Assad, Benjamin Verdery and others. He received his Bachelor of Music Degree in Classical Guitar Performance in Fall 2019. Raphael is also a guitar and bass instructor at CB Music Studios in Roseville, California; as well as teaches privately in the Sacramento area.
He currently studies jazz guitar studies with master guitarist Steve Homan in order to expand his musical knowledge as an improviser. He also loves composing pieces and arranging for solo guitar in order to broaden the possibilities of the instrument.
| September 16, 2022 • 4:00pm - 6:00pm | Wedding Ceremony |
The classical guitar repertoire I specialize in consists of Spanish/Flamenco, Classical, Baroque, Romantic, popular song arrangements (Beatles etc.) and jazz standard arrangements.
Outdoor gigs in the sun require a shaded area.
Berkeley, CA 
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