Raúl da Costa

Portuguese pianist Raúl da Costa (b. 1993) has established himself as a distinctive artistic presence on today’s international music scene. Recognized for the clarity, imagination, and depth of his interpretations, he performs regularly on major European stages, including the Konzerthaus Berlin, Palau de la Música Catalana, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the Lockenhaus Festival, and the Liszt Academy Budapest. He made his orchestral debut at the age of twelve at Casa da Música in Porto, marking the beginning of a career that has since taken him to collaborate with major orchestras in Portugal and abroad.

An avid chamber musician, Raúl da Costa has appeared alongside artists such as Anja Lechner, Anouar Brahem, Sergei Nakariakov, Bruno Monsaingeon, Albrecht Mayer, Michael Barenboim or Samuel Mariño. Deeply committed to contemporary music, he has cultivated close artistic relationships with composers including Francisco Coll, Valentin Silvestrov and António Victorino d’Almeida.

His performances have been broadcast by ARTE, Deutsche Grammophon, Deutschlandradio, AVROTROS, NDR, SWR, Radio France, and Portuguese national broadcasters. A live recording of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Porto Symphony Orchestra under Stefan Blunier is available on CD, as well as with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León. 

Raúl da Costa has worked closely with Maria João Pires, Daniel Barenboim, Ferenc Rados, and Dmitri Bashkirov. He studied at the Hochschule für Musik, Medien und Theater Hannover with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and Bernd Goetzke—later joining its teaching faculty—and completed postgraduate studies with Kirill Gerstein at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin.

Since 2018, he has served as Artistic Director of the Póvoa de Varzim International Music Festival, one of Portugal’s leading classical music festivals.