Maestro Raffa in his life has conducted more the 3,000 performances bewteen opera performances and concerts.Throughout his career he also conducted many prestigious orchestras such as: the Orchestra of the Teatro Massimo of Palermo; the Orchestra of the Teatro V. Bellini of Catania; the Orchestra Sinfonica of Bari; the Orchestra of the Prague Opera Theatre, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Prague; the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London, the Orchestre Metropoiltaine de Montreal; the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra; the Bucharest Opera Orchestra; the Sydney Symphony Orchestra; the Melbourne; Tokyo NHK Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra; South Africa State Theatre Orchestra of Pretoria; Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra; Philharmonic of Sofia; Bucharest Philharmonic; Toronto Opera Orchestra; Honk Kong Symphony Orchestra; Hungarian State Opera Orchestra; Cape Town New Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony, Toronto Philharmonic, Budapest Philharmonic and many more.

Over twenty years of live performances of Giuseppe Raffa have seen the participation of the greatest opera singers of the world and indeed, of the whole history. Among others, Piero Cappuccilli, Nicola Martinucci, Roberto Scandiuzzi, Michelle Crider Ferruccio Furlanetto, Katia Ricciarelli, Ruza Baldani, Grace Bumbry, Ghena Dimitrova, Leona Mitchell, Maria Chiara, Wilhelmenia Fernandez, Elena Obrazova, Bruna Baglioni, Daniela Dessì, Juan Pons, Deborah Voight, Renato Bruson, Paata Burchuladze, Bruno Sebastian, Luigi Roni, Dennis O’ Neill, Giuseppe Giacomini, Mario Malagnini, Igvar Wixell, Nicola Ghiuselev, and Matteo Manoguerra.

The performances in South Africa’s Pretoria Football Stadium enjoyed the patronage of new President elected Nelson Mandela and the sponsorship of Ned Bank. It was one of the greatest Aida productions by Giuseppe Raffa, and indeed the greatest event that had ever taken place in the country, with an audience of 80,000 people and an extraordinary performance of Soprano Wilhelmenia Fernandez in the title role. A truly historical event.

The second great Opera produced by Raffa was Verdi’s
Nabucco, a production that was first staged in Munich
Olympia Halle.  Nabucco was a very singular and
innovative production, with a central four-angled
pyramid shaped stage, placed in the centre of the arena, and facing the audience at 360°. There was no backstage and performers walked in and out of the structure through purposely placed doors and hatches. It was also a visual production, with projections and other visual effects flooding from above and all around the stage, creating moving and exciting virtual environments and atmospheres.

Four sold-out performances were held and one of the leading German newspapers, the Suddeutsche Zeitung, stated “Wie einst Karajan” (like once Karajan) meaning that like this great Austrian conductor and artistic director, Raffa took thoroughly charge of all creative and artistic matters, from costumes to stage concept and direction, and of course, music.

But this was not the only time when Karajan’s name was associated to that of Giuseppe Raffa. In 1990, after a successful tour of Aida in the Pacific Area, following a series of important meetings in Beijing, supported by an entourage of international sponsors, Raffa convinced the Chinese Government to hold a Turandot production inside the Forbidden City.

 A press conference was held to announce this extraordinary event to be produced and directed by Giuseppe Raffa, generating world resonance. Many, among which the great Karajan, had attempted to realize this project of great relevance and magnitude but the Chinese Government had never been heeded to give its permission. In recognition of this achievement, the German conductor sent a warm telegram of congratulations to Giuseppe Raffa.

Raffa’s next opera production to see the light was Puccini’s  Madame Butterfly, produced in co-production with the “Arena di Verona “for an impressive amount of 19 performances with some 200,000 spectators. The further developed and impressive virtual scenery concept is the true protagonist of this grand and majestic, yet incredibly intimate opera production. There is no physical element present on stage of over 300 meters diameter. Every scene, ambient and atmosphere is created virtually, giving prospective and sense of depth, and producing true emotions, on an otherwise flat and bear surface.

The Madame Butterfly production was then staged again in other important cities and capitals of the world, achieving a remarkable success with both audience and critics.

The last opera production conceived by Giuseppe Raffa is Verdi’s  Rigoletto. Another step further opening towards the future, with the introduction of more advanced audio-visual technologies for the virtualization of scenery, reached a new sense of depth, perspective and interactivity between stage reality and virtual – a technology that can now be used in traditional theatres. Rigoletto’s production thus started a tour of Italian opera theatres that will then extend to other European theatres of tradition.