Raphaela Gromes

Henriëtte Bosmans, Pauline Viardot-García and Elisabeth Kuyper – even the best-informed music lovers have probably never heard of them. For several years now, the cellist Raphaela Gromes has enthusiastically made it her task to give a voice to these and other female composers. They were forgotten because they were women and because they were caught in the dilemma of “having to combine being an artist as much as possible with being a housewife,“ as Clara Wieck put it shortly before her marriage to Robert Schumann. Gromes, who, along with her piano partner of many years Julian Riem, is regarded as an outstanding performer on the international concert platform and in the field of chamber music, now brings wonderful music by female composers who have been criminally neglected to a broader stage. In 2023 the cellist produced a double album of these fascinating works for Sony Classic al entitled Femmes. With its release, Gromes touched a nerve: the project has been rapturously received by press and public alike.