Camille Maalawy

Camille has achieved notable acclaim for bridging both musical and cultural divides.  Born to a Coptic Egyptian father and English mother, her extensive and diverse repertoire includes opera, oratorio, lieder and Arabic and Jewish music. Her CD Daughter of Arabia draws on her cultural heritage as well as showcasing her vocal talent.  Camille recently completed a PRS Foundation Resonance residency with Opera North, where she explored the diversity of her cultural heritage more deeply, creating a new song cycle, Mezzaterra (Meeting Point), which received its first performance at this year’s Tête à Tête festival.

Camille sang the Egyptian composer, Nahla Mattar’s Songs on Colloquial Arabic at the Royal Opera House Engender Festival in July 2021. Other notable engagements have included Camille’s debuts at Grimeborn in 2019, in the role of Mother in Bushra El-Turk’s Silk Moth and at the Wigmore Hall with the Liverpool Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, singing the UK premiere of two pieces by the Palestinian composer, Patrick Lama. Camille champions the work of contemporary composers, most recently premiering four new vocal works in ‘Notes About Now’; a collaboration between London Sinfonietta and Poet in the City. Other highlights have seen Camille singing the role of Anna in Tobias and the Angel; Reciter in Walton’s Facade, Murder in the Cathedral (Iris Theatre); the world premiere of Song of Songs (Ken Burton); chamber recitals with the Amos Ensemble, and several premieres for composer, Julian Dawes.

Camille reached the final of the International Israeli Music Competition in 2008. Around that time, she also appeared regularly with the Iraqi-Jewish ensemble, Rivers of Babylon, as well as creating the role of Lola in Pocket the Clown (Jim Marcovitch) at Battersea Arts Centre. Camille has performed numerous times with her own ensemble of Arabic and Jewish musicians and as a solo concert performer. Performances of note have included Music Beyond Frontiers, a concert of Arabic and Jewish music with Hilda Bronstein, as part of the Sing London Festival; a recital to support the Friends of Bereaved Families Forum: Israeli-Palestinian Families for Peace (LSO St. Lukes); concerts with the Choir of London, under the baton of John Rutter and performances for the charity Hafla which promotes Middle Eastern co-existence. Camille has also performed for the charities, Live Music Now and Music in Hospitals, and has twice taken the role of Musician in Residence at the Jewish Christian Muslim Conference in Germany.

Her passion for embracing music from many cultures has brought her success and accolades not only as a performer but also as an educator, working with children and young people across a wide range of communities including Tower Hamlets, Hemel Hempstead, and South Oxhey (Watford). Her current work in education includes working as a Choral Practitioner for the Voices Foundation in schools in Grimsby and Bradford, a Workshop Leader for the Royal College of Music Sparks programme, as well as delivering the Create and Sing training for the Royal Opera House.

 

She sang with passionate intensity, drawing out the power and grief of one reliving from the other side a history that repeats itself….the image of her kneeling to the words of the final spoken lines remained with me long afterwards… It was one of the most remarkable musical experiences of my year.

George K. Haggett, Tempo Journal, December 2019 (Silk Moth, El-Turk).

The British-Egyptian mezzo Camille Maalawy, experienced in Arabic and Sephardic singing styles as well as Western classical music, was a perfect fit for Mother…Maalawy was not only a strong singer, but also an excellent actress who brought a warm humanity to Mother and projected complex emotion even when reacting to a phone screen.

Caroline Potter, I care if you listen, August 2019 (Silk Moth, El-Turk)

Camille is blessed with a soulful voice that manifests through the light of her worldly heritage and experience. She infuses depth and passion into every musical performance.

Imran Ahmad - Film Composer

Lama's two songs to texts form Darwish's Yatirou-I Haanou felt like extended accompanied recitative, expressively presented by an excellent versatile mezzo Camille Maalawy, whose repertoire represents her "passion for embracing music from many cultures.

Wigmore Hall, Liverpool Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra
Peter Grahame Woolf, musicalpointers.co.uk

She sang with passionate intensity, drawing out the power and grief of one reliving from the other side a history that repeats itself....the image of her kneeling to the words of the final spoken lines remained with me long afterwards... It was one of the most remarkable musical experiences of my year.

George K. Haggett, Tempo Journal, December 2019

The British-Egyptian mezzo Camille Maalawy, experienced in Arabic and Sephardic singing styles as well as Western classical music, was a perfect fit for Mother...Maalawy was not only a strong singer, but also an excellent actress who brought a warm humanity to Mother and projected complex emotion even when reacting to a phone screen.

Caroline Potter, I care if you listen, August 2019

Career
highlights

  • Weather Forecaster, Mezzo Soloist ‘The Water Diviner’s Tale’ (Opera North)
  • Nahla Mattar’s Songs on Colloquial Arabic UK premiere (ROH Engender Festival)
  • Mother/Bushra El-Turk’s Silk Moth (Ruthless Jabiru, Grimeborn)
  • Mysterious Lady/Louis Manders’s Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come To You, My Lad (Hull Urban Opera)
  • Trained at Goldsmiths College with Nan Christie, and currently studies with Maureen Brathwaite
  • Awarded a PRS Resonance residency with Opera North
  • Mother, ‘Silk Moth’ (Bushra El-Turk, Ruthless Jabiru at Grimeborn)
  • Anna, ‘Tobias and the Angel ‘(Jonathan Dove, Hemel Hempstead Community Choir)
  • Carmen, ‘Carmen’
  • Dorabella, ‘Cosi fan tutte’ (Opera Gold)
  • Moth, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ (British Youth Opera)

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