Casey Rafn

Casey Rafn is a Minneapolis-based pianist, recording artist, and music director whose work spans the worlds of collaborative piano, musical theater, as well as contemporary music and beyond. In recent seasons, he has performed as a member of the Minnesota Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and also appeared in concert with Cantus. For his performances with Cantus, the Star Tribune praised his playing as “having done extraordinary things with the music all evening.”

As a collaborative pianist, he has toured the United States, Latin America, and Europe. As a member of the saxophone-piano trio “Trés,” their album Romance al Campesino Porteño received a Latin GRAMMY nomination. The trio has collaborated with internationally acclaimed saxophonist Miguel Zenón, and also recently premiered Angélica Negrón's Pedacito De Tierra, a work that interweaves music with spoken testimony from members of the Puerto Rican diaspora in the Twin Cities. The trio's commissioned composition by Zenón, El País Invisible, earned a GRAMMY nomination, reflecting the trio's commitment to innovative and culturally meaningful artistic collaborations.

As a recording artist he has published recordings with faculty members of the University of Minnesota School of Music, which can be found on Spotify and Apple Music. As a soloist he has appeared with the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, and also won top prizes at the Liszt-Garrison competition in Baltimore, including Best Liszt Interpretation. As a music director, he has led musical theater productions at Lundstrum Performing Arts in North Minneapolis, as well as Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists. He is a graduate of The University of Iowa, and currently serves as pianist for both VocalEssence and the Basilica of Saint Mary.