When she was fourteen years old, Fatma Said took her first singing lesson with soprano Neveen Allouba, embarking on a musical journey that would take her from her home in Cairo, a city with only a limited opera scene, to the hallowed boards of Milan’s Teatro alla Scala and selection as one of BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists in 2016. She became an exclusive Warner Recording Artist in 2019 and her debut studio album, El Nour, is released in October 2020.
After receiving her Bachelor of Music from the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin in 2013, Fatma was awarded a scholarship to study at the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala in Milan, becoming the first Egyptian soprano to perform on that iconic stage. During her time at the academy, she sang the role of Pamina in a critically acclaimed new production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, directed by Peter Stein and conducted by Ádám Fischer. The production was broadcast by ARTE and has since been released on DVD. She was hailed by critics as one of the world’s most promising young singers, with the influential Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung saying of her, “The flawless, radiant Fatma Said as Pamina is a discovery.”
Fatma represented Egypt on Human Right’s Day in 2014 and 2018 at the United Nations in Geneva and in 2017 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. Later 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 has shared the stage with renowned musicians such as Leo Nucci, Rolando Villazón, Juan Diego Florez, Michael Schade and Jose Cura and performed recitals with clarinetist Sabine Meyer and pianists such as Malcom Martineau, Roger Vignoles, Julius Drake, David Fray and Joseph Middleton.
“I feel so fortunate to work with all kinds of musicians from across the world, and to perform music by so many composers from all over world,” comments Fatma. “The thing that connects us is music. It is a commonality, and I love that in listening to live music, we in a way create a moment of peace together.”
