fatma said + tim allhoff
17 september 2023 / 8pm / lafayette, king’s cross
100% funded (sold out)
Multi-award-winning opera star Fatma Said performs French and Arabic classical songs in London's eclectic new live music venue, Lafayette
7pm: doors open
8pm: fatma said set
9pm: jazz, funk, and latin DJs until close
what are noisenights?
noisenights are our vision for the future of classical music: informal crowdfunded events featuring international soloists in bars, converted warehouses, and nightclubs.
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Most noisenights feature two short classical sets, one early evening, one late. All tickets to the late set include live music or DJs for the rest of the night, including jazz, latin, afrobeat, swing and funk acts.
This noisenight currently only has one set - but we're ready to add another, dependent on demand.
Live music needs your backing more than ever. Becoming a noisenight backer means getting tickets to hear the world's best performers up close while becoming part of a community working for a positive future for live music.
After a noisenight reaches its funding target, we'll e-mail all backers to confirm it and a small amount of extra tickets will be made available. These tickets are released in three stages, which increase in price the closer to the event they're purchased. Book early to get the best price.
Please note that due to the venue's license, this noisenight is strictly 16+.
the venue:
You might not have been to Lafayette, London’s box-fresh new venue in King’s Cross. Not many have. It opened its doors at the beginning of March 2020, but the pandemic forced it to close again at barely two weeks old.
It's the sister venue of OMEARA in London Bridge, where noisenights have taken up residency twice already. This is our first night at Lafayette, and the first classical show to grace their stage.
the music:
Fatma's show will draw on material from her genre-defying albums Kaleidoscope and El Nour, with a programme focusing on French, Arabic, and American songs by composers such as Fauré, Poulenc, Legrand, Gershwin, and Rahbani.
The Egyptian soprano blazed onto the classical scene with her multi-award-winning debut on Warner Classics, El Nour, honoured with two awards apiece from Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine in 2021.
Her latest release, Kaleidoscope, boasts a cross-cultural and genre-defying programme and showcases Said’s passion for dance. The album features works from opera, operetta, film and pop, sung in no less than six languages - French, German, English, Spanish, Italian and Arabic. It was awarded a Presto Music Award 2022 just before the album launch at a sold-out noisenight19 in February.
fatma said (soprano):
At the age of 14 Fatma Said embarked on a musical journey that would take her from her home in Cairo to the Academy of Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists and ultimately to the world’s most prestigious concert and opera stages.
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As an exclusive Warner Recording Artist she released her debut album El Nour in 2020 to much critical acclaim, winning numerous awards including the Gramophone Classical Music Award for ‘Best Song Album’, the BBC Music Magazine’s Vocal Award as well as Germany’s Opus Klassik.
Fatma took her first singing lessons in Cairo with soprano Neveen Allouba and later studied Opera Singing at Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler with Professor Renate Faltin. Fatma subsequently was awarded a scholarship to study at the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala in Milan, becoming the first Egyptian soprano to perform on this iconic stage. In Milan she sang - among numerous other roles - Pamina in a new Peter Stein production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, after which Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung heralded, “The flawless, radiant Fatma Said as Pamina is a discovery.”
Fatma is looking forward to an exciting 22/23 season: As Artist in Residence at the Konzerthaus Berlin she will present a range of colorful programs including the release concert of her second Album Kaleidoscope in September 2022, a recital with Sabine Meyer and Malcolm Martineau, as well as concerts with Giovanni Antonini, Iván Fischer and Alondra de la Parra. Being a passionate Lied singer Fatma will be returning to give recitals at the Schubertiade in Hohenems, Wigmore Hall in London and make her debuts at Carnegie Hall in New York and the Celebrity Series in Boston. She will appear in concerts with the Munich Symphony Orchestra, Concerto de’ Cavalieri, the Bayer Philharmonic and a gala at the venerable Abdeen Palace in Cairo. Fatma will make her debut as Vitellia in La clemenza di Tito on a tour with Cecilia Bartoli and Gianluca Capuano. She will also return to the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg for a series of Christmas concerts with Daniel Hope.
Recent highlights include her debut at the Royal Albert Hall with Mozart’s Requiem at the BBC Proms with Nathalie Stutzmann, performing Mahler’s 4th Symphony with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with Kazuki Yamada, Ravel’s Shéhérazade with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester and Cristian Măcelaru at the Berliner Philharmonie as well as the Cleveland Orchestra with Stéphane Denève. Further highlights include Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate with Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and Gábor Takács-Nagy, recitals at Snape Maltings, Radebergkonzerte Series in Cologne, De Singel in Antwerp, Edinburgh International Festival, Wigmore Hall, Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival, Schubertiade, Morellino Festival and a gala concert with Rolando Villazón at the Zorlu Center in Istanbul as well as his televised 50th birthday gala.
Throughout the past years she has also appeared on the stages of Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Staatsoper Hamburg, Royal Opera House in Muscat, Wexford Opera in Ireland, Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Philharmonie Cologne, Konzerthaus Berlin, Mozarteum in Salzburg, Vienna Konzerthaus, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Pembroke Music Festival, Schubertiada Festival of Valdegovia, Lockenhaus Festival, Schumann Festival in Bonn, Mozart-Woche in Salzburg, Beethoven Festival in Bonn, and the Music Festival of Bad Kissingen amongst others.
Fatma’s operatic roles on stage include Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Nannetta (Falstaff), Clorinda (La Cenerentola), La Pastourelle (L'enfant et les sortilèges), Berta (Il barbiere di Siviglia), 1st Ecologist (contemporary opera CO2), Feanichton (Bataclan) and the role of L’Amour (Orphée et Eurydice) at the Teatro alla Scala. She sang Genovieffa (Suor Angelica) with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons in a concert performance and the main role Tharsis in the new production of Mozart’s T.H.A.M.O.S. during the Mozart-Woche Festival 2019. Fatma Said is a strong advocate for causes that are close to her heart: In September 2021, Fatma performed at Global Citizen Live – a worldwide 24-hour livestreamed charity event which sees artists from around the world campaign to end the hunger crisis, protect the planet and plan its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The artists lineup included musicians such as Elton John and Ed Sheeran. She represented Egypt on Human Right’s Day in 2014, 2017 and 2018 at the United Nations in Geneva as well as at the Luxor Temple and sang for children's right to education and dignity through music. In 2016, she received an honorary award from Egypt’s National Council for Women. In the same year she became the first Egyptian opera singer ever to be awarded the state’s Creativity Award, one of Egypt’s highest accolades, for her outstanding artistic achievement on an international level.
Fatma continues working with Professor Renate Faltin and has had distinguished professors and coaches, such as Julia Varady, Claar Ter Horst, Anita Keller, Wolfram Rieger and Tom Krause, who have strongly influenced her musical development and helped her hone her musical interpretation.
Fatma won several major singing competitions including the 8th Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition (Dublin, 2016), the 7th Leyla Gencer International Opera Competition (Istanbul, 2012), 2nd prize at the 16th International Robert Schumann Lied Competition (Zwickau, 2012) and the Grand Prix at the 1st Giulio Perotti International Opera Competition (Germany, 2011).
Fatma is also an ambassador for Opera for Peace and is supported by the stART academy of Bayer Kultur.
Rewards: standing tickets to noisenight31 at 8pm on Sunday 17 September 2023 in Lafayette, London. First-come, first-served for the best views.
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