Raphael Bell enjoys a career as a principal cellist, chamber musician, teacher, and festival director. He is currently principal cello of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra in Belgium, co-founder and co-director of the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival in the USA, and co-Artistic Director of La Loingtaine in Montigny-sur-Loing, France.

As a chamber musician he has performed at Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Salle Gaveau, Berlin Philharmonie, Köln Philharmonie, Luzerner Theater, Tokyo Suntory Hall, and Kyoto Concert Hall, and at festivals including Seattle Chamber Music, Ferrara Musica, Wiener Festwochen, Elba Festival, Ravinia, Verbier and Resonance Festival Belgium. He was part of the IMS Prussia Cove tour that won the Chamber Music Award from the Royal Philharmonic Society in London, and has collaborated with musicians such as Steven Isserlis, James Ehnes, Martha Argerich, Pekka Kuusisto, Maxim Vengerov, Ivry Gitlis, Giovanni Sollima and with quartets including Brooklyn Rider, Dante and Orpheus, as well as Oxalys and Japan's Nagaokakyo Ensemble. He gave the world premier of Olli Mustonen's Triptych for three cellos with Steven Isserlis.

Recent solo concertos include performances of Beethoven Triple concerto with the Virginia Symphony and Eric Jacobsen, Lalo concerto with Antwerp Symphony and Lionel Bringuier, Boccherini and Vivaldi concertos with Bruges Chamber Players, as well as solo performances with the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Luft Ensemble, and the Royal Flemish Philharmonic under Edo de Waart and Philippe Herreweghe.

He has performed Giovanni Sollima’s Violoncelles Vibrez! with Mario Brunello and Camille Thomas. As a member of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra for many years, he played in the Lucerne Festival Orchestra’s celebrated Mahler Symphony Cycle with Claudio Abbado.

Raphael studied at The Juilliard School with Harvey Shapiro, and later with Mario Brunello, Steven Isserlis and Ferenc Rados.