Raffaele Cortesi completed his high school degree with honors at age 18 in Parma, Italy, and then began studying Musicology at University level. He perfected his talents with Sergio Perticaroli from the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Roberto Cappello, Piero Guarino, Jorg Demus, Dalton Baldwin and Bruno Canino.
He has won prizes in numerous competitions and has appeared in renowned concert halls as well as at various festivals including Accademia di S.Cecilia and L'Università La Sapienza in Roma, Auditorium di Milano, Teatro S.Carlo in Napoli, Dresdner Musikfestspiele, St.John's Smith Square in London, Kissinger Sommer, BSI Engadin Festival, Vienna Hofburg, Bunka Kaikan and Ima Hall in Tokyo, Symphony Hall in Osaka, Seoul Arts Center, Teatro Monumental in Madrid and Rossini Festival in Pesaro. He has accompanied recitals of singers such as Raina Kabaivanska, Cecilia Gasdia, Sonia Ganassi, Fiorenza Cedolins, Barbara Frittoli, Vincenzo La Scola, Giuseppe Sabbatini, Michele Pertusi (with whom he recorded Verdi's Songs) and Renato Bruson.
Numerous recordings have been made of his voice in cooperation with several radio and television channels including RAI RADIO 3, TSI, ZDF, FRANCE 2, RADIO ESPANA, ARTE, KBS and NHK. In addition, he has recorded Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle together with the Prague Chamber Choir conducted by Romano Gandolfi , Verdi paraphrases in duet with the clarinettist Corrado Giuffredi and inedited vocal songs by Arturo Toscanini for Tactus. Of next exit in 2018 two Cds, one including all the melodies by F.P.Tosti on texts by G.D'Annunzio and the other one featuring lyrics written by A.Casella during the period spent in Paris.
He works as vocal coach in various theaters such as Teatro Regio in Parma, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova, Arena di Verona and Comunale di Bologna. In addition, he has worked together with San Carlo in Naples, Maestranza in Seville, Taormina Festival, Nederlandse Opera, Fondazione Toscanini, Dijon Auditorium and important international competitions such as Neue Stimmen, Giuseppe di Stefano, Maria Callas, Voci Verdiane-Busseto, Renata Tebaldi, Riccardo Zandonai. For the Festival Verdi in Parma he interpreted the world première of Album Piave and Il Corsaro by Giovanni Pacini. He held masterclasses at Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Wien, Tokyo College of Music, Gnesins Academy of Music in Moscow, Haydn Konservatorium Eisenstadt and la Scuola dell'Opera Italiana di Bologna.