Rafael Sales Arantes (20/06/1980), a Brazilian composer, choir conductor and orthodontist, born in Aiuruoca. He was a pupil of Maria Aparecida Zabezuck (piano and musical theory). Later he studied with Marciliano Braga, Cida Valle and Eldah Drummond. Especially interested in colonial music. He composed for orchestra and choir (Requiem, Missa Brevis, Domine hyssopo, etc.); for a capella choir; piano, etc.

Rafael Sales Arantes was born on 20th June, 1980 in a small city called Aiuruoca, in the south of Minas Gerais (Brazil). At the age of 8 he moved with his family to Três Corações, Minas Gerais. Studying in the old INCOR, he was part of the Choir of pupils, having as teacher, Aparecida Maria Zabezuck. She realized his inclination for music and gave him the first lessons of piano and musical theory.
Later, at the age of 11, he started in the Conservatory of Music Maestro Marciliano Braga, in Varginha. There, he had piano lessons, during these five years, he was taught by Cida Valle and Eldah Drummond. In this period, he adored "composing" he placed notes in the paper, however, nothing with some musical direction.
In 1996, preparing himself to take the vestibular contest, he abandoned the piano studies. During the years in Odontology College (1997 - 2001) he didn’t study music at all. However, it was on this period that his interest for Brazilian colonial music intensified.
This interest was given due to the environment where always he coexisted at his native city, where colonial music is still played in the solemnities of the Holly Week. Enthusiasmatic with the beauty of everything, he obtained copies of all the parts executed there, beyond many others. These had been transcribed and delivered to the teacher of the local choir, Luiz Gonzaga Ferreira Pinto. With this work, he could observe how the orchestra was built up. Thus, in 2002, living and working in the city of Carvalhos, he initiated his first serious composition, the Litaniae Lauretana in D, for string orchestra, choir and horns, dedicated to his friend Eva Cipriani, singer of the orchestra Ribeiro Bastos of São João Del Rei.
In the following year he initiated the composition of a Requiem in C minor. Initially, the Introito was dedicated to his friend Maria Nilse Senator. He finished the workmanship, in December 31st, 2004. With the death of the Pope John Paul II he dedicated the workmanship to him.
While living in Aiuruoca from November 2003 to May 2005, he was the conductor of the Choir Francisco Gomes Ribeiro. This choir was established in November 2003 and Maria Lúcia Albarez, his auxiliary regent. They had participated of the week solemnities 2004 saint, where they had executed workmanships of the aiuruocano composer Antônio Martiniano da Silva Bemfica and other composers, such as Manoel Dias de Oliveira, Pe. José Maria Xavier and João Baptista Lehmann. The choir failed as soon the conductor left Aiuruoca.
In 2005, he moved again to Três Corações and initiated the music college in the University Vale do Rio Verde, having as piano professor, Andres Torres. Therefore, under the profession, odontology, he abandoned the college and dedicated to the study to of orthodontics. But music continues strong in his life In 2006, he finished his Missa Brevis nº 1 for Choir and soloistas, string orchestra, trumpets and timpani.