Rafael Maia was born in Porto, Portugal in 1996. 

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He holds a degree in Light & Sound Design and Production from ESMAE, and a Master's degree in Sound Design from Catholic University of Porto, where he developed his research thesis - "The Sonic Nature Of An Emotion - Designing Emotional Timbre", which focuses on the correlations between timbre and emotion perception. This research was sponsored by Moog, the legendary synthesizer makers and RME, the world renowned audio interfaces.

 

His artistic journey began in 2015 as a composer/sound artist. 

Throughout his career, he has carried out many artistic productions internationally, including several European tours, exhibitions and performances in places such as Théatre De La Ville (Paris, France), Centre Chorégraphique National de Caen (Normandy, France), Schauschpiel (Leipzig, Germany), New Baltic Dance Festival (Vilnius, Lithuania), Lights in Alingsas Festival (Alingsas, Sweden), among many others.

 

In the performative areas of dance and theater, Rafael has collaborated with notable artists such as, Rui Lima & Sérgio Martins, Marco Da Silva Ferreira, Vitor Hugo Pontes, Circolando, Radar 360º, Nuno Cardoso, Joana Providência, Joana Castro, Costanza Givone, among many talented others.

He also exhibited sound art installations in Portugal and Sweden, with notable collaborations such as Pedro Tudela (Portugal) and Miguel Calanchini (México). 

 

In the field of cinema, he composed for several award-winning films, including the short film "Lapso", 1st Prize at Fuso Video-Art Festival (EDP/MAAT Acquisition Award), which is now part of MAAT Museum’s collection. 

 

In his academic career, he has been invited to teach on his research topic at Contemporary Academy of Spectacle (ACE, Porto), School of Music and Performings Arts (ESMAE, Porto) and at Catholic University of Porto (UCP, Porto). 

In 2022, he was awarded a national PhD research grant on the “Development of Timbral Originality in Sound Art” making him an integrated researcher at CITAR, the research center of the School of Arts of Catholic University of Porto. 

Recently, Rafael was awarded by Digitópia - Casa da Música (Porto, Portugal) for his sound art installation project derived from his doctoral research.