Dutch baritone Raoul Steffani studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and at the conservatories of Amsterdam and Tilburg, where he graduated summa cum laude. Since September 2016 he is a member of the Dutch National Opera Academy and continues to work with his longtime vocal coach Margreet Honig in Amsterdam. ​He has also participated in masterclasses with Thomas Hampson, Elly Ameling, Christa Ludwig, Marjana Lipovšek and Nelly Miricioiu. Raoul is the recipient o

f the Elisabeth Evertsprijs 2016, a price awarded every two years to the most promising Dutch musician of exceptional skill. While still studying he won the Grachtenfestival Competition and several prizes in the Prinses Christina Concours in the Netherlands. As a finalist for the 2017-2018 Dutch Classical Talent Tour & Award, he is given the opportunity to tour twelve Dutch concert halls with a song-recital program consisting of Schumann, Sibelius and Muhly. As a laureate of the Prinses Christina Concours he was invited by the Dutch embassies to perform in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, Calgary and Athens. Last season Raoul was heard twice in the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam during the NTR ZaterdagMatinee opera series: as Svjerstnik in Prokofiev’s Semyon Kotko conducted by Vladimir Jurowsky and as the Kammersänger in Richard Strauss’ opera Intermezzo with the Radio Philharmonic Orchesta led by David Zinman. Next season's highlights contain, among others, the baritone-solo in the Carmina Burana in a tour with the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the bass-solo in the St. Matthew Passion in a tour with the Royal Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, opera concerts with the Philharmonie Zuidnederland, and multiple recital programs. As an active recitalist, he works regularly with the German song specialist Gerold Huber as well as with Lucas and Arthur Jussen and performs regularly in some of the best concert halls in the Netherlands including the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Muziekgebouw aan het IJ, Muziekgebouw Eindhoven, International Chamber Music Festival led by Janine Jansen in Utrecht and at the International Song Festival Zeist. He is especially interested in the songs and duets of Robert Schumann. Additionally Raoul is a laureate of the Thomas Hampson-Lied Academy during the Heidelberger Frühling Festival. On the operatic stage he has performed Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus (J. Strauss) and will sing Guglielmo in Mozarts Così fan tutte at the NJO Music Summer 2018 in cooperation with Dutch National Opera Academy. Furthermore he worked with acclaimed conductors Sigiswald Kuijken, Anthony Hermus and Arjan Tien. Raoul appears regularly in Dutch national television programs such as Podium Witteman, Podium on Tour and De Tiende van Tijl, as well as on multiple programs on NPO Radio 4. During the summer of 2016 BravaTV followed Raoul for several weeks for a new documentary. As an oratorio soloist, he has sung, among others, St Matthew Passion and St John Passion by J.S. Bach, W.A. Mozart's Requiem, Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, Oratorio de Noël by Saint-Säens, and Messiah by Handel. ​His debut CD dedicated to the songs of Schumann, Grieg, Sibelius and Berg with pianist Gerold Huber is scheduled for release at Challenge Records International in season 2018/2019.