Filomena Campus

Last updated

Filomena Campus
Born
Sardinia, Italy
Occupation(s)Jazz singer, composer, lyricist, academic and theatre director
Known forFounder of Theatralia
Website www.filomenacampus.me

Filomena Campus is a jazz singer, composer, lyricist, academic and theatre director, who was born in Sardinia and since 2001 has been based in London, England. [1] Her performance style characteristically fuses jazz, theatre and literature, [2] and she is the founder of the company Theatralia, curating the annual Theatralia Jazz Festival [3] in collaboration with the PizzaExpress Jazz Club in Soho, [4] with the aim of uniting British and Italian styles. [1] On December 14th, 2023, Campus was awarded the honour of “Cavaliera” (Dame) of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

Contents

Career

Filomena Campus was born on the Italian island of Sardinia. She earned a degree in English literature from the University of Cagliari, where as a student she started singing and performing. [2] In Cagliari she performed and directed A Game of Chess, a project inspired by the work of Samuel Beckett, James Joyce and T. S. Eliot that was her first experiment in combining live jazz with theatre, in 2001. [5] That year, she relocated to England to study for a master's degree in theatre directing at Goldsmiths, University of London. [6]

In 2003, she founded the company Theatralia, described as "an international collective of performers and artists whose works combine literature, physical theatre, performance art, digital art with live music and audience participation". [7]

She has performed as a vocalist with leading musicians, including Paolo Fresu, Evan Parker, Guy Barker, Orphy Robinson, Huw Warren, Byron Wallen, Cleveland Watkiss, Jean Toussaint, Kenny Wheeler, Laura Cole, Jackie Walduck, Tori Handsley, and Tony Kofi, [8] [9] and has appeared at several international festivals, [10] as well as on radio. [11] Her voice has been described as having a "huge range of truly improvised vocal sounds", [12] and Cleveland Watkiss has called her "one of the most adventurous young female singers/performers/composers based in the UK". [5]

She has also taught and lectured in theatre, improvisation, voice and related studies at educational institutions such as Central School of Speech and Drama, East 15 Acting School, University of Essex, Kingston University, and Buckinghamshire New University.

In 2009, Campus was awarded the Italian Premio Maria Carta and in 2015 the Premio Navicella. [8] In 2010 she formed the Filomena Campus Quartet, with Steve Lodder on piano, Dudley Phillips on bass and Rod Youngs on drums, [5] with projects including Jester of Jazz (featuring Jean Toussaint and Rowland Sutherland on a 2011 recording), Italy VS England with Italian writer Stefano Benni, Scaramouche (2015, with Giorgio Serci and Kenny Wheeler) and Queen Mab. [13] [14]

In addition to her show on London One Radio interviewing artists, [15] [16] in 2022 that Campus joined Jazz London Radio for her new show Filomena Campus' Theatralia Jazz, airing on Fridays at 5pm and Sundays at 3pm. [17]

Theatralia Jazz Festival

In 2013, Campus founded the Theatralia Jazz Festival – which was originally known as "My Jazz Islands" – which brings together music and theatre from British and Italian musicians and writers, [18] with the production Italy VS England produced in both Cagliari and London. In 2018 the theme of the festival was "Sardinian Extravaganza", a jazz bridge with the town of Alghero in Sardinia. In 2019 and 2020 the bridge was going to be between London and Rome, but the pandemic stopped the project. [10] She has said: "Years ago I left my island for another island, that welcomed me and helped me to make many dreams come true. In a moment where everyone seems to draw up walls, I aim to build a bridge between our two countries. A bridge made of jazz notes, theatre and masks, musical encounters enriched by the magic words of great poetry." [19]

Monk Misterioso

Campus adapted and directed Stefano Benni's Misterioso, A Journey into the Silence of Thelonious Monk (2005) as a theatre production featuring the music of Thelonious Monk, staging the show at the Edinburgh Festival in 2008, the Riverside Studios in 2009, [20] and at a variety of venues in the following years, including as part of the Theatralia Jazz Festival. [21]

In 2017 an Arts Council England-sponsored international Monk Misterioso Tour was launched at the British Library in October, [4] culminating with a new dramatised production of Misterioso: A Journey into the Silence of Thelonious Monk at Kings Place that closed the London Jazz Festival's celebration of the centenary of Monk's birth, and featured Campus alongside Cleveland Watkiss, Pat Thomas, Rowland Sutherland, Orphy Robinson, Dudley Phillips and Mark Mondesir. [22] [23] [24] Reviewing this sold-out performance for Jazz in Europe, Erminia Yardley wrote: "With a mixture of theatrical panache and sheer talent, they all produced a show that raised the bar. The beauty and innovation of the production filled every note and words spoken and sung on the night. Brilliant!" [25]

Academic research

In 2020, Filomena was awarded by London Arts and Humanities Partnership (LAHP) an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded Research Studentship at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama for a Collaborative Doctoral Award with the Verona State Archive Franca Rame Dario Fo and Fondazione Fo Rame. Work title for this project: 'Liberate Rame! The feminist practices of theatre-maker and activist Franca Rame. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paolo Fresu</span> Italian jazz musician (born 1961)

Paolo Fresu is an Italian jazz trumpet and flugelhorn player, as well as a composer and arranger of music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stefano Benni</span> Italian writer, journalist

Stefano Benni is an Italian satirical writer, poet and journalist. His books have been translated into around 20 foreign languages and scored notable commercial success. 2.5 million copies of his books have been sold in Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thelonious Monk</span> American jazz pianist and composer (1917–1982)

Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser", "Ruby, My Dear", "In Walked Bud", and "Well, You Needn't". Monk is the second-most-recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington.

Kate Elizabeth Cameron Maberly is an English actress, director, writer, producer, and musician. She has appeared in film, television, radio and theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pannonica de Koenigswarter</span> British jazz patron and writer

Baroness Kathleen Annie Pannonica de Koenigswarter was a British-born jazz patron and writer. A leading patron of bebop, she was a member of the Rothschild family.

Sardinia is probably the most culturally distinct of all the regions in Italy and, musically, is best known for the tenore polyphonic singing, sacred chants called gosos, the launeddas, an ancient instrument that consists of a set of three single-reed pipes, all three mouth-blown simultaneously using circular breathing, with two chanters and one drone and the cantu a chiterra, a monodic song that is accompanied by guitar, widespread mainly in the center and north of the island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dee Dee Bridgewater</span> American jazz singer (born 1950)

Dee Dee Bridgewater is an American jazz singer and actress. She is a three-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony Award-winning stage actress. For 23 years, she was the host of National Public Radio's syndicated radio show JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater. She is a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization.

"'Round Midnight" is a 1943 composition by American jazz pianist Thelonious Monk that quickly became a jazz standard and has been recorded by a wide variety of artists. A version recorded by Monk's quintet was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1993. It is one of the most recorded jazz standards composed by a jazz musician.

Ahmed Abdul-Malik was an American jazz double bassist and oud player.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orphy Robinson</span> British jazz musician and composer

Orphy Robinson MBE is a British jazz multi-instrumentalist who plays vibraphone, keyboards, saxophone, trumpet, piano, marimba, steelpans and drums. He has written music for television, film and theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Sung</span> American jazz pianist

Helen Sung is an American jazz pianist.

Nikki Yeoh is a British jazz pianist who has worked with Courtney Pine, Cleveland Watkiss, Steve Williamson, Chante Moore, The Roots and Neneh Cherry. Born in London, Yeoh is of mixed race origin, having a father from Malaysia and a British mother. Some of her first music teachers were Don Rendell and Ian Carr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleveland Watkiss</span> British vocalist, actor, and composer, educator

Cleveland Watkiss,, is a British vocalist, actor, and composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gianluca Petrella</span> Musical artist

Gianluca Petrella is an Italian jazz trombonist. In 2001 he won Italy's Django d'Or Award as well as Musica Jazz's annual critics poll as Best Young Talent. In 2006 and 2007 he was featured in Down Beat magazine, winning their award for "Best Emerging Artist" in the category for Best Trombonist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1959 in jazz</span> Overview of the events of 1959 in jazz

This is a timeline documenting events of Jazz in the year 1959.

The following is the discography of American jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk (1917–1982).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roberto Tola</span> Italian jazz guitarist and composer (born 1966)

Roberto Tola is an Italian jazz guitarist and composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jazzmeia Horn</span> American jazz singer

Jazzmeia Horn is an American jazz singer and songwriter. She won the Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition in 2015. Horn's repertoire includes jazz standards and covers of songs from other genres, including by artists such as Stevie Wonder. She has been compared to jazz vocalists such as Betty Carter, Sarah Vaughan, and Nancy Wilson.

Benet McLean is a British jazz violin and piano virtuoso and singer.

References

  1. 1 2 "Filomena Campus" [ permanent dead link ], Isola Delle Storie, 2 July 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Meet the Artist……Filomena Campus", The Cross-Eyed Pianist, 29 October 2015.
  3. ↑ Theatralia Jazz Festival at Filomena Campus website.
  4. 1 2 "Thelonious Monk", Black History Month 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 "Filomena Campus", Theatralia website.
  6. ↑ Michael J. Edwards, "Filomena Campus" (interview), UK Vibe, 2015.
  7. ↑ "About Filomena", Filomena Campus website.
  8. 1 2 "Filomena Campus", All About Jazz.
  9. ↑ "Filomena Campus" Archived 1 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine , Nicky Thomas Media.
  10. 1 2 "Filomena Campus".
  11. ↑ "Cleveland Watkiss and Filomena Campus", BBC Essex, 24 October 2017.
  12. ↑ Alison Bentley, "REVIEW: Filomena Campus/ Paolo Fresu/ Orphy Robinson / Giorgio Serci - My Jazz Islands Festival at Pizza Express Jazz Club" Archived 1 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine , London Jazz News, 12 November 2014.
  13. ↑ "Monk Misterioso: A journey into the silence of Thelonious Monk". 2017.
  14. ↑ Ottavia Zanetta, "An Italian Touch at London Jazz Festival", The It Factor Magazine, 9 November 2016.
  15. 1 2 "Filomena Campus BA, MA". Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  16. ↑ "Radio Broadcasting". filomenacampus.me.
  17. ↑ "Filomena Campus joins Jazz London Radio". Jazz London Radio. 9 February 2022. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  18. ↑ "Theatralia Jazz Festival comes to London's Pizza Express", Jazz FM, 28 October 2015.
  19. ↑ "Soho's PizzaExpress Jazz Club hosts the third annual Theatralia Jazz Festival curated by Filomena Campus", Press release.
  20. ↑ Erminia Yardley, "Filomena Campus – Expect the Unexpected!", Jazz in Europe, 28 October 2017.
  21. ↑ Peter Quinn, "Filomena Campus’ spellbinding Monk homage at Theatralia Jazz Fest", Jazzwise , 27 November 2015.
  22. ↑ "Monk Misterioso".
  23. ↑ "MONK MISTERIOSO – a journey into the silence of Thelonious Monk" Archived 1 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine at Serious.
  24. ↑ Zara McFarlane, John Cumming, John Fordham, "London jazz festival: this year's must-see gigs", The Guardian , 9 November 2017.
  25. ↑ Erminia Yardley, "Magical gig by Filomena Campus et al - the perfect conclusion to the EFG London Jazz Festival", Jazz in Europe, 28 November 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.