
LaRob K. Rafael
Director of Composer Adcancement
LaRob K. Rafael is a Chicago-based curator, speaker, and Founder of Hearing in Color, a nonprofit amplifying historically excluded voices in classical music. He collaborates with leading institutions like the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Lyric Opera of Chicago, and is Artistic Director of the 2025 Ear Taxi Festival. A Sphinx LEAD alum and 2025 MPower Artist Grant recipient, LaRob shaped inclusive programming at WFMT (Chicago’s primary classical station, 98.7 FM) through projects like Sounds Classical and Soundtrack. His work reimagines classical music’s past and future through storytelling, equity, and community-centered performance.