Cameron Shahbazi

Rising Countertenor Cameron Shahbazi is one of the most promising young voices of the opera world today and is celebrated for his "full, voluminous" voice and "personal and beautiful" timbre and praised for his acclaimed interpretations of both baroque and contemporary music (De Trouw). The 2022/23 season marks numerous exciting projects for Cameron Shahbazi. At the Dutch National Opera Shahbazi performs as Tolomeo in a new production of Giulio Cesare under the baton of Emmanuelle Haïm. At the Festival D'Aix-en-Provence the countertenor stars in George Benjamin’s new composition and world premiere of Picture a Day Like This. A sought-after concert performer, Shahbazi starts his season with concerts at Carmina Burana with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic. He further sings Stabat Mater in Versailles and performs George Benjamin’s acclaimed concert piece Dream of the song for countertenor and female chorus with Gürzenich Orchestra in Cologne. Together with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Shahbazi can also be heard at the Sinfonietta String Festival Zeeland. One of the highlights of the season is the benefit concert for human rights in Iran initiated and produced by Cameron Shahbazi at the Frankfurt Opera. Highlights of the past seasons included his debut at Oper Frankfurt as Oberon in a new production of Midsummer Night’s Dream and his involvement at Internationale Handel-Festspiele Karlsruhe where he took on the title role in Tolomeo, re d’Egitto in a production by Benjamin Lazar. Shahbazi gave his Russian debut as Tolomeo in Giulio Cesare in Egitto with the Moscow Chamber Ensemble, conducted by Christopher Moulds. In 2020, Shahbazi returned to Oper Köln for a worldwide digital streaming of Written on Skin, conducted by François-Xavier Roth, where he took on the role of The Boy/Angel 1 to critical acclaim. Also, in Cologne the countertenor sang Guildenstern in a new production of Brett Dean's Hamlet, conducted by Duncan Ward. He has enjoyed performing diverse repertoire in recital and has been a frequent guest of the Dutch National Opera’s afternoon series, performing alongside pianists Jeff Cohen and Daan Boertien, and the Baroque & Beyond Chamber Orchestra. Shahbazi was named an associate artist at the Dutch National Opera Studio where he further created the role of Sergey Diaghilev in Willem Jeth’s new opera Ritratto, which was one of the Guardian’s picks of opera and classical concerts to watch during the first COVID-19 lockdown. Other past performances include the role of Disinganno in Handel's Il Trionfo del Tempo del Disinganno at Theater Aachen, and the title role in Cavalli’s Il Giasone for Opera NEO. He opened the 2021/22 season with open air concerts of Handel arias and duets with the Nederlands Kamerorkest in Amsterdam and Bloemendaal. Further notable recitals were given at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and with pianists Lucas and Arthur Jussen at the Tivoli Vredenburg in Utrecht. Cameron Shahbazi has been awarded with several international honours including the Sylva Gelber Award (2021), the Walter Prsytawski Prize (2021) and the Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation Award (2019). In 2019, he was a finalist at the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition. He was awarded the Royal Opera House Covent Garden Prize at the 2018 International Belvedere Competition, won the 2nd Prize at the 2018 Innsbrucker Baroque Competition, and top prizes at the 2017 Opéra Avignon Jeunes Espoirs Competition. Hamilton-born, Shahbazi is an alumnus of the University of Toronto and Conservatorium van Amsterdam, and a grateful grant recipient of the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation and Staetshuys Fonds.