Raphael Angelo Yap is a freelance musician born in the Philippines and raised in the Los Angeles area. He recently earned a bachelor's degree in music performance from California State University Long Beach where he studied with Steve Trapani and Michael Hoffman. In the fall of 2025, Raphael will begin his Master's in Music at UCLA studying with Jim Miller. Raphael has played with various youth symphonies in SoCal such as the American Youth Symphony and is currently part of the California Young Artists Symphony and the Civic Orchestra of Los Angeles. Throughout his career, he has gotten to perform in venues such as Royce Hall, Walt Disney Hall, and the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Alongside being a performer, Raphael is an educator who works with high school and middle school students throughout Southern California and is involved in organizations such as the Student Academy of Musical Leaders and makes it his goal to inspire his students everyday to enjoy the art of music.