Imagination

IMAGINATION – the sixth album by Opus Klassik winner Raphaela Gromes takes listeners on a romantic, virtuoso and musical journey into the world of fantasy. With her soulful and brilliant performance, the young cellist conjures up powerful images before the eyes and ears of listeners. Raphaela Gromes chose works for her musical journey around the world by composers from Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Russia, Hungary, France, the US and Canada.

Several of the most beautiful and well-known works from the classical repertory were newly arranged for IMAGINATION, including the Sleeping Beauty Waltz by Tchaikovsky, the Flight of the Bumblebee by Rimsky-Korsakov, the Scherzo from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Dvořák’s yearning-filled Song to the Moon, Humperdinck’s magical Evening Prayer from the opera Hansel and Gretel, as well as some tracks from famous movie soundtracks, like Bag End from Lord of the Rings and Leia’s Theme from Star Wars. All in all, 17 imaginative, poetic and highly virtuoso pieces are included on IMAGINATION. Many of the works chosen are from the world of fairy tales. To reflect the vivid colours of the pieces on the album arranged by pianist Julian Riem, Gromes invited many of her friends to collaborate on the album, including violinist Daniel Dodds, harpist Anaïs Gaudemard and the Arcis Saxophone Quartet.

Raphaela Gromes also interprets Franz Liszt’s Dance of the Gnomes and David Popper’s Dance of the Gnomes and Dance of the Elves on IMAGINATION. On this album, the young concert artist also surprises once again with compelling and rarely heard works such as Märchenstunde (Fairy Tale Hour) by Margarete Schweikert, born in Karlsruhe in 1887 – and, in collaboration with the “Frau und Musik” Archives in Frankfurt, Märchen (Fairy Tale) by Paul Juon and Pohadka by Leos Janaček, both originally composed for cello and piano. A thrilling rendition of Forgotten Fairy Tales by Edward MacDowell (1860–1908) also awaits listeners.

Raphaela Gromes is an international cultural ambassador of the SOS Children’s Villages and an ambassador of the José Carreras Leukaemia Foundation. In 2020 she won the prestigious German Opus Klassik award in the Chamber Music Recording Duo category. As part of the IMAGINATION project, in July of 2021 she invited refugee children from Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria to play music with her and make drawings of their dreams.