Hello world!
I am Rafaele, a brazilian Dutch-based music composer and musician who reimagines music through my art projects and self-made technologies. Expanding my foundation in cello and composition, I developed Knurl: an electroacoustic instrument merging technology, electronic music, and creative programming.
Through Knurl, I explore new possibilities for artistic expression by designing my own sounds, objects, and interfaces. My practice integrates 3D printing, creative coding, and emerging technologies as compositional tools, allowing the instrument itself to become an active part of the artistic process.
To me, to develop my own technology is a way to continuously reflect and overcome the boundaries of my artistic identity and my music practice. I situate this approach within a broader DIY culture that is growing globally and generating positive collective impact. Individually crafted tools and systems can offer locally grounded solutions while contributing to shared knowledge across communities.
My work explores interdisciplinary formats of music-making, engaging with themes such as public participation, cultural identity, self-made technologies, music composition, 3D printing, and social and environmental awareness. Improvisation is central to my creative process, enabling me to translate compositional thinking into live performance and to remain responsive to space, context, and audience. Through these interdisciplinary experiences, I invite audiences to reconsider ideas of identity, connectivity, and empathy in a globalized world.
My current artistic mission is to create musical experiences that emphasize music as a live, embodied act. Through collaboration and interdisciplinary perspectives, I seek to position listening as an active, participatory practice rather than a passive one. I aim to further develop Knurl as the core and conceptual “home” of my artistic practice, using it as a platform to engage with diverse cultures, foster exchange, and produce socially engaged music projects and tours, particularly within underdeveloped communities.
Education.
2016: Composition and Conducting Curitiba, Brazil
2020: Sonology The Hague, The Netherlands
2022: New audiences and innovative practices The Hague, The Netherlands
Awards.
2024: Crystal Pine music Award Dead zones
2024: Alpine Fellowship Music Prize Trópicos
2022: Waterwende Dead zones
2020: Guthman Competition Knurl
2017: IFPC / UNESCO Radio Delas
2017: Arkea Accés String orchestra
Oficial bio.
Rafaele Andrade (1994, Brazil) is a Brazilian but dutch-based composer, musician, designer, and artist who combines new music with new technologies to address social and environmental issues. Creator of the string instrument Knurl, she explores new forms of engagement and interactivity in her productions, which include theater and audiovisual projects. Her international productions are marked by the interdisciplinary fusion of composition and performance, bringing an innovative approach to new and contemporary music.
Graduated in Composition and Conducting from the Escola de Belas Artes do Paraná (2011–2015), she also studied Sonology and New Audiences and Innovative Practices (NAIP) at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague. Among her achievements are the Crystal Pine Music Award for her soundtrack Dead Zones (2024), the UNESCO International Fund for the Promotion of Culture (2017), and the Alpine Music Prize (2024) for her solo production “Trópicos.”
Her works have been produced in various countries, including Estonia, Germany, China, Brazil,Paraguay, Argentina, England, Italy, Hong Kong, so on. Through her creative projects, she has become an expert in artistic production, technical production, artistic coordination, creative programming, interface design, electronic music, and technologies such as C++, creative programming, microcontrollers, music softwares, and 3D modelling and printing.