James Raphael concert pianist and composer has been called by many - Mother Theresa of the piano, because of the many concerts he gave to raise money for many charitable organizations such as doctors without frontiers, Aids research, Cancer research, charity concerts in honor of Santa Rosa of Viterbo,Italy, a catholic Saint who during her short life did so much for the poor, desperate, hungry and homeless people. On the 3 rd of September every year where a hundred herculean men risk their lives by carrying a large and extremely heavy church constructed every 5 years new which is 98 feet tall and weighs 11 thousand pounds, for this yearly event on their backs through the streets of Viterbo, carrying it through the very narrow streets and squares of the medieval town center. They are called the porters of Santa Rosa and finally carry this church up a steep hill and place it in front of her church where her body has been mummified for many centuries.They do all this hard and life threatening work just to acquire Santa Rosas special blessings. James Raphael also performed concerts in a Assisi ,Italy in honor of St. Francis of Assisi,and all proceeds from the concerts went to the St.Francis foundation, which helps desperate people all over the world. Mr.Raphael also had a special Honor of being invited by the Vatican to give a series of concerts on the Vatican Radio which was broadcast worldwide , and performed an open air concert under the balcony of Pope John Paul's II at his summer castle in the town of Castel Gandolfo ,Italy while the Pope was in attendance. His great composition 13 variations and 5 voice grand fugue on the Theme of Hatikva which means hope in Hebrew and is the National Anthem of Israel was also broadcast worldwide over the Vatican radio as a moving ecumenical gesture on the part of the Roman Catholic Church.Mr. Raphael wrote this composition in memoriam of the Victims of the Holocaust in particular to the memory of his grandmother Julie ,his uncle Victor and his aunt Beatrice, who were children at the time as well as various cousins who lost their lives in Auschwitz after being deported from Salonika ,Greece. About 35 years ago Mr.Raphael traveled to India to the town of Puttaparthi for the purpose of trying to meet the most famous Avatar and Godlike man that millions of Hindus and others believed in.His name was Sai Baba.Thousands of people were there at his Ashram, just waiting to get a glimpse of him which would be a great miracle already.Mr. Raphael was able to follow him to his special room inside the temple without being stopped and posed a question to Sai Baba ,which was “ Oh Baba ,how can we become like Gods” ? He answered “ Be Good, Do Good and See Good”. He then swished his right hand and produced Vibuti ,which is that mysterious and divine ash and passed it around as well as diverse pieces of Jewelery that he materialized.Then Baba got up and as he was leaving Mr.Raphael put his hand in front of him. Baba looked at it for a second then took Mr . Raphael’s hand in his hand and held it for a few seconds.The hand of the Avatar ( meaning God in Man ) touching the poor hand of an aspiring pianist and poor Gem dealer. Mr.Raphael was told by followers that touching the hand of Baba could only happen after multitudes of reincarnations and what an incredible blessing it was. Mr.Raphael on a visit to Beverly Hills met a great comedian Steve Allen and after playing piano for him Allen invited him to perform Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue on Steve Allen’s music room on the Disney Chanel which millions of people saw. In 2007 Mr.Raphael met a concert pianist Satenik Muradyan from Yerevan, Armenia, at a Van Cliburn foundation event in Fort Worth,TX. They got married and were blessed with two beautiful sons. Satenik was a winner of many international piano competitions ,and in Fort Worth she performed with the Fort Worth, Symphony after winning the Piano Texas festival. Mr.Raphael and his wife continued performing charity concerts together for the benefit of old age homes to improve the quality of old people’s lives all over the America. Recently during the terrible pandemic and terrible war in Satenik's homeland in Armenia they performed an online concert to raise money for the injured young soldiers, amputees, young music students in the Conservatory and displaced citizens who lost their homes.They are planing to do many more benefit concerts and Mr. Raphael will try to compose new musical compositions, however they need your financial support and donations for this worthy causes and noble endeavors . God bless all of you.
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For many years, James Moussaieff Raphael has been referred to as Mother Theresa of the piano, having always tried to raise money and perform for multiple charities like Doctors Without Frontiers in France, Cancer and Aids research also in France, Save the Children in Italy, Drug and Alcohol abuse foundations like the Betty Ford centers in Rancho Mirage ,CA, and many more. Although being a reformed jewish person James has also played fundraisers for great Catholic Saints charities like Santa Rosa of Viterbo ,Italy whose birthday is on the 3-rd of September and is a charity helping the poor, homeless and destitute. In 2007 he met the great Armenian pianist Satenik Muradyan while competing in the Van Cliburn piano competition in Fort Worth, TX.Satenik was competing at the same time and won the Piano Texas Festival for concert pianists and extraordinary teachers and performed with the Fort Worth Symphony orchestra . They met and realizing that this was a match made in heaven that only God could organize and they got married soon after which resulted in the birth of Ely 13 years old and Harry 12 years old.James and Satenik also combined their incredible talents to perform charity concerts together.An online concert from their home in Fort Worth,TX. raising money to benefit Armenian piano students from Yerevan State Conservatory as well as injured young soldiers from the 2020 terrible war who lost their arms and legs and different body parts badly needing prosthetics.They also went to Assisi, Italy where they performed for a charity for the Saint Francis of Assisi charity association in 2021, benefiting the poor, homeless and destitute something that Saint Francis himself constantly tried to accomplish in his holy and saintly life. Their two son’s Ely and Harry also participated in the concert after being prepared for about a year by their parents. James and Satenik think music is a gift of God and should be taught diligently to children.James Raphael’s first son Immanuel who is 33 years old also participated in the concert having a very unusual tenor voice whom James accompanied. Immanuel’s grandfather Adrian Van Driem was the first violinist in the great Amsterdam Symphony orchestra for 40 years.All my life besides studying piano and composing I also became a fine jeweler and self funded my charitable concerts and 7 CD’s from my jewelery business involving fine jewelery and precious stones as did my great grandfather Rabbi Slomo Moussaieff who died in 1922 in Jerusalem, known as a miracle maker. He also supported his rabbinical studies and kabbalistic studies ( kabbala is the highest form of jewish mysticism which brings great blessings ) through his precious stone business which he started at his birthplace in Bukhara, Uzbekistan.For the past two years because of the Covid situation and the economy in general my jewelery business became almost impossible. We now ask the public whoever is interested to help fund our charitable work and CD creations. I am hoping with your help God willing that my wife and I can continue our world wide quest to help and inspire with our music and go where ever necessary to help the needy. My compositions and performances you can find on James Raphael youtube or James Raphael composer or pianist.My 7 CD’s are available for purchase through my website. Also my music scores can be purchased as well. May God bless all of you and thank you for your attention to our endeavors.