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 her Masters at RNCM in 2022, and then again from an Artist Diploma at RNCM, where she studied under Jane Irwin and Michael Harper, with the continued support of Help Musicians. 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 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 in 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 in Eugene Onegin (Opera North / RNCM); Fox in The Cunning Little Vixen (Morley Opera); Don Ettore in La Canterina (RNCM); Dorabella in Così fan tutte (RNCM); Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel (NOS Short Course). She is also a guest artist with the Edvard Grieg Kor and Bergen National Opera.
As a collaborative performer, she founded the devising ensemble, the New Renaissance Collective in 2018 and has co-created and performed in productions including Beaten Gold and an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Venus & Adonis.
Recent concert highlights include Emily Howard’s Threnos at the Wigmore Hall, Schumann’s Liederkreis Op.39 at the Manchester Song Festival, and a program of French mélodies for Clonter Opera with duo partner, Craig White. She also performs baroque repertoire regularly with Musica Antica Rotherhithe in London and across the UK, including the title role in a staged production of Cavalli’s Artemisia in 2024.
Camilla came to music at an early age, singing with the cross-over group, Angelis, under Sony BMG. She studied English at Girton College, Cambridge, and then Social Inequality at LSE, where she researched and published articles on freelance music-making and the harnessing of capital for Classical Music magazine. She is also a keen aerial artist and a member of the Salon Collective, where she trained in Meisner’s acting method.
Updated July 2023. This biography should not be reproduced without asking permission from the National Opera Studio.