Praised for her ‘unaffected simplicity’ (Classical Source) and ‘velvety mezzo’ timbres (The Telegraph), British mezzo-soprano Camilla Seale made her operatic debut at Buxton International Festival as Prince Charming in Viardot’s Cendrillon before joining the Glyndebourne Festival Opera Chorus the following season.
She graduated with Distinction from a Masters/Artist Diploma at RNCM, where she studied under Jane Irwin and Michael Harper. There, she was the First Prize recipient of the Betty Bannerman Award for French Song, the Brigitte Fassbaender Award for Lieder, and the Creative Innovator Award. Most recently, she was awarded First Prize at the Sir John Maddison Opera Award, Third Prize at the Concours international de chant baroque de Froville, and was a semi-finalist at the Kathleen Ferrier Awards.
Her other operatic roles include creating Bella in Tom Smail’s Blue Electric (Tête à Tête; Playground Theatre); Cherubino Le nozze di Figaro (RNCM); Mrs. Nolan in Menotti’s The Medium (RNCM); Mary in John Tavener’s Mary of Egypt (King’s College Chapel, Cambridge); Madam By-Ends and Madam Bubble in The Pilgrim’s Progress (BYO) and scenes as Olga, Fox, Don Ettore, Dorabella, Hänsel, Hel, and Medée.
Recent concert highlights include Emily Howard’s Threnos at the Wigmore Hall, Schumann’s Liederkreis Op.39 at the Manchester Song Festival. She is a member of the 2024 Wigmore Hall French Song Exchange run by Felicity Lott, and performs baroque repertoire regularly with Musica Antica Rotherhithe in London and across the UK.
Before training at RNCM, she read English at Girton College, Cambridge, and then Social Inequality at LSE.
Camilla’s time at the Studio is generously supported by The Eileen Goddard Memorial Bursary from the Amar-Franses and Foster-Jenkins Trust.
Updated December 2023. This biography should not be reproduced without asking permission from the National Opera Studio.