Double bassist from the Pyrénées-Orientales, Raphaël Quaretti, 18, is multiplying his projects. Hands down admitted to the Paris Conservatory in February 2024, he has already performed twice at the Philharmonie concert hall since October. Back in Catalonia for the holidays, he will play in Collioure, Thuir and Amélie in the wake of the New Year.
He is just 18 years old. And yet, double bassist Raphaël Quaretti already has many feats of arms. Since last October, this pure product of the Perpignan conservatory, where he obtained his musical studies diploma (DEM) at the age of 14, has performed twice in the prestigious concert hall of the Philharmonie de Paris. In particular, in October, he performed Beethoven's 9th symphony with the orchestra of the Paris Conservatory.
It must be said that the young musician, who attended the Saint-Hippolyte elementary school, the Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague college and the Bon Secours high school, set his sights on the double bass very early on. “I started at the age of 5 with Hervé Rémond at the Salanquaise branch of the Perpignan Conservatory. I played on a cello converted into a double basshe says. I chose this instrument because my mother took me to a concert where an orchestra was playing the Star Wars soundtrack. The double bass had left its mark on me, particularly in the Imperial March, where it stood out the most.”
Graduated from the conservatory at 14
After entering college, Raphaël began taking classes at the conservatory in Perpignan. He finally obtained his musical studies diploma at 14 years old, compared to 18 or 19 years old on average, and continued with preparatory classes. “It allowed me to play with Daniel Tosi (conductor, composer and former director of the conservatory, Editor’s note). We notably did concerts with Cali or with the daughter of Montserrat Caballéhe remembers. It really allowed me to progress.” However, at the time, Raphaël was not yet considering making music his profession: “I decided to embark on this path when I was in high school. It was a risk, but it's what characterized me the most. I have a special bond with my instrument. I feel good when I play.”
In 2023, once he has completed his baccalaureate, the young prodigy leaves for the Toulouse conservatory, where he is admitted to the preparatory class. Under the leadership of the principal double bassist of the Toulouse capitol orchestra, Damien-Loup Vergne. A new decisive meeting, according to him. It was in fact after this intensive preparation that began in September 2023 that Raphaël passed the entrance exam to the Paris Conservatory the following February with flying colors. He was one of 3 admitted to his discipline out of around fifteen candidates from all over France.
Projects in Paris and the Catalan country
But the Perpignan resident does not forget the country of his childhood. This summer, he toured there for around fifteen dates with Daniel Tosi's orchestra. It was in this context that the idea of a duo was born with the conductor's son, Diego, a violinist in the intercontemporary ensemble of the Philharmonie de Paris, around the “Gran duo concertante” of Bottesini. The two musicians have already performed the work in public at Boulou on December 15.
They will do it again this January 1st in the Collioure church during the New Year's Day concert (at 5 p.m.). Raphaël Quaretti will also perform on January 4 (8:30 p.m.) at the Théâtre des Aspres de Thuir with the sÔlis orchestra ensemble conducted by Mehdi Lougraïda. And on January 5 in Amélie-les-Bains (4 p.m., at the Trescases hall) with the Perpignan-Catalogne orchestra, under the direction of Daniel Tosi.
