Fatma Said

Fatma Said (born 1991 in Cairo) is an Egyptian soprano living (as of 2022) in London.
Life
Fatma Said grew up in Cairo, where she attended the Deutsche Schule der Borromäerinnen Kairo. Her father, Ahmed Hassan Said, was the first president of the Free Egyptians Party founded during the Arab Spring.
Said's early focus was tennis, but following the recommendation of her school choir teacher she received her first singing lessons at the age of 14 with soprano . In 2009 she got accepted to study classical singing at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin where she received her Bachelor of Music in 2013 and Master of Music in 2018 under Prof. Renate Faltin. She then received a scholarship at the Opera Academy of La Scala in Milan,
becoming the first Egyptian soprano to ever sing at La Scala. In 2016 she was seen as Pamina in Peter Stein's production of The Magic Flute at La Scala in Milan.
She has appeared on many international stages, including the Teatro San Carlo (Naples), Staatsoper Hamburg, Royal Opera House Muscat, Wexford Opera in Ireland, Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Vienna Konzerthaus, Royal Albert Hall, and Carnegie Hall. She played roles in the operas Falstaff, L'enfant et les sortilèges, La Cenerentola and The Barber of Seville. She sang at many well-known festivals such as the International Music Festival in Bad Kissingen, the Schumann Festival in Bonn and the 9th and 10th D-Marine Turgutreis International Classical Music Festival in Turkey. She was an artist-in-residence at the Konzerthaus Berlin in 2022/23.
Said is also known for her social commitment. At TEDxCairo in 2011, she sang “The Day the People Changed”, a new song she participated in composing about the Egyptian revolution. In 2013, she worked with composer Eugenio Bennato at the Teatro San Carlo on an educational project about the Arab Spring. She represented Egypt on Human Rights Day several times and appeared at the United Nations in Geneva together with Juan Diego Flórez where she committed herself to the musical education of children and young people. In 2016 she was the first opera singer to receive the Creativity Award from Egypt.
She was also honored by the National Council for Women that same year. On 25 September 2021 she performed at Global Citizen Live in Paris, along with Elton John, Ed Sheeran, and other well known stars.
Awards
First Prize in the German Young Musicians’ Competition Jugend musiziert, 2006 and 2009
Winner of the Grand Prix of the 1st International Giulio Perotti Singing Competition, 5-11 February 2011 in Ueckermünde
2nd prize and silver medal at the XVI. Robert Schumann International Competition for Pianists and Singers in Zwickau 2012
1st Prize and Doğuş Audience Prize at the Leyla Gencer International Opera Competition in Istanbul 2012
Egyptian State Creativity Award 2016
1st prize at the 8th Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition in Dublin 2016
Honorary Award of the National Council for Women in Egypt 2016
One of 2016's BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists
2021 BBC Music Magazine Newcomer of the Year and Vocal Award for her debut album, El Nour
2021 OPUS Klassik Young artist (vocals)]
2021 Gramophone Classical Music Award for Best Song Album, Young Artist of the Year
2023 Rafik Hariri Award for Artistic Excellence
Discography
2017: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: The Magic Flute. From La Scala in Milan with Fatma Said as Pamina, directed by Peter Stein, conducted by Ádám Fischer. DVD / Blu-ray released by CMajor.
2018: Christoph Willibald Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice. From La Scala in Milan with Fatma Said as Amour, directed by John Fulljames and Hofesh Shechter, conducted by Michele Mariotti. DVD / Blu-ray released by Belvedere.
2020: Fatma Said – El Nour. (Warner Classics, originally released: 16 October 2020) French, Spanish and Arabic songs. Featuring Malcolm Martineau (piano), (guitar), (nay), (piano) and the .
2021: Featured on Jakub Józef Orliński's Anima Aeterna (Warner Classics, released 29 October 2021).
2022: Kaleidoscope – Fatma Said. (Warner Classics, released: 2 September 2022) Featuring Tim Allhoff (piano), (bandoneon), Marianne Crebassa (mezzo-soprano), (trumpet), vision string quartet, Quinteto Angel, (bass), Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, and (conductor).
References
External links
Fatma Said page on Operabase
Living people
1991 births
Egyptian operatic sopranos
Singers from Cairo
21st-century opera singers
21st-century Egyptian women singers