Raffi Boden

Raffi Boden has forged his own expansive style on the cello, combining his fluency on the instrument with a reverence for folk traditions and a flair for experimentation and improvisation. Since graduating from Juilliard, Raffi has cultivated a multi-dimensional career as a NY-based freelance musician, performing in ensembles from experimental chamber trios to raucous klezmer big bands and in venues ranging from intimate neighborhood haunts to Carnegie Hall. He's a member of klezmer band Mamaliga, with whom he’s toured internationally, and of the Magid Ensemble, a multidisciplinary project combining art, storytelling and original klezmer music. He's also a member of the six-piece chamber-jazz ensemble Simone Baron & Arco Belo, with whom he’s performed at the Kennedy Center and the Jazz Gallery; and of Riwaya Ensemble, a collective of composers and performers dedicated to contemporary Middle Eastern classical music who are recipients of Chamber Music America’s Ensemble Forward grant.

Raffi holds a Master’s from the Juilliard School, where he was a student of Joel Krosnick. He holds a BM in Cello Performance and a BA in French from Oberlin College & Conservatory, where he was the winner of the 2018 Concerto Competition.