I’m thrilled and honoured to have received the APRA Professional Development Award in the Jazz Category! It’s going to be great working on some new projects and getting lessons with a few of my heroes. Congratulations to all the winners and finalists.Thanks APRA/AMCOS!

I am very excited to have the wonderful Australian Voices and Camerata-Queensland's Chamber Orchestra premiere my new 60-minute work for choir and string ensemble. This work features lyrics by Pearly Black and is inspired by recent events in Hasankeyf, an ancient city in Turkey which has recently been flooded for a controversial dam, washing away 12,000 years of history. Sinking Cities explores erasing histories, as well as themes of loss, modernisation, short term gains, and the replacement of traditional lifestyles. 

The world premiere of Sinking Cities will be live streamed exclusively via the Australian Digital Concert Hall. 

Sinking Cities is supported by Arts Queensland’s First Night Showcase – Judith Wright Arts Centre Fund, Australia Council, and Phonographic Performance Company of Australia.

More information and tickets can be found through the link below:

https://camerata.net.au/performances/sinking-cities/

I'm thrilled to have been nominated for an ARIA with the album Haven with Kristin Berardi, Sean Foran, Pascal Schumacher and I! Woohoo.

There is some great music on this list. Congratulations to all the nominees.

It was nice to chat with Nathan Henshaw for an interview on the Sydney Saxophone Network Q&A Series.

Here is a link to us talking about music for an hour or so!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV5_B4WyRgg

Due to COVID19 and the NSW lockdown, this performance has unfortunately been canceled.

Hopefully we can look at presenting it again soon... More information to follow after July 30...

I'm looking forward to playing with my quintet at Mary's Underground as part of the SIMA Winter Jazz Series.

The band is heavy! This will be a pre-launch gig in the lead up to a National Tour and album launch happening later in 2021.

Nardje Nordhuis: trumpet

Matt McMahon: piano

Brett Hirst: bass

James Waples: drums

me.

It will be a double bill with the lovely Elysian Fields. More information can be found below.

I hope to see you there!

https://winterjazzfest.com.au/event/double-bill-elysian-fields-rafael-karlen-quintet/

I was thrilled to be one of the lucky few to be awarded an ABC Jazz Commission for a new trio project with pianist Steve Barry and bassist Hannah James. The three of us will each compose new works exploring themes and the changing histories of our National Parks for our new group, The Eucalyptus Treeo!

https://www.abc.net.au/classic/read-and-watch/news/abc-classic-and-abc-jazz-commission-15-new-works/13425972

I'm excited to be one of 5 finalists to be shortlisted for an APRA Professional Development Award in Jazz/Improvised Music. The other finalists are awesome- Steve Barry, Andrew Saragossi, Audrey Powne and Harry Mitchell. Woohoo!

I have been very busy writing music for the creative development of a major new work for the Australian Voices and Camerata- Queensland's Chamber Orchestra. This project explores the themes of losing our past and destroying history, and is inspired by the loss of the 12000 year old Turkish city Hasankeyf which has just been flooded for a Dam project.

It will be premiered in late August/September and will feature my new 60-minute work for choir, string orchestra and saxophonist, with lyrics by Pearly Black.

Our first creative development session was in January and I'm looking forward to the next round in March where I'll capture some audio and video!

I'm very excited that Haven has been getting some lovely reviews and acclaim throughout the world.

It was ABC Jazz Album of the Week- woohoo!   
It was also a nice surprise that my track Ripple was included on the November Aussie Art Music Playlist in LIMELIGHT Magazine.

One of the tracks was included in the Jazz X-Press Playlist

Here are some reviews from Europe

Berardi / Foran / Karlen on JazzAround : 

London Jazz News