James Raphael was born in 1953 in Los Angeles from Jewish Sephardic parents (father born in Salonika , Greece and mother born in Paris , France from Boucharian ancestors). He began his piano studies at the age of eight in Brighton , England after having become intrigued by a 200 year-old piano in his father's antique shop.

The family later moved to Athens , Greece where he studied at the Athens Conservatory of Music, and later to Rome , Italy . He received his diploma from the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia at the age of seventeen, and then continued his perfection studies at the Conservatory of Paris with Aldo Ciccolini and Nadia Boulanger, and then in Rome at the Academy of Santa Cecilia with Carlo Zecchi and Rina Rossi, from where he graduated with maximum points and highest possible honors. He also participated in the masterclasses of Nikita Magaloff ... read more