Placing Egyptian talent firmly on the world stage, stunning young soprano Fatma Said has won the 8th Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition in Dublin, Ireland, landing at the top of the competition. The competition hosted singers representing 180 countries, with only six singers reaching the final stage. Said performed three arias, and was accompanied by the Wexford Festival Opera.
A mere 24 years old, Said has already exhibited incredible ease in expressing a wide range of emotions through her singing, her transformation on stage has been described as ‘spectacular’. Since making her debut at the Cairo Opera House at the age of 14, Said has performed at various events and venues, including the Royal Opera House of Muscat and at the United Nations in Geneva.
Said won two prizes at the 7th Leyla Gencer Voice Competition in Turkey in 2012, in addition to various other awards and accolades and is also one of ten individuals worldwide, and the first Egyptian, to be awarded a scholarship to attend La Scala Academy in Milan.
“I can’t remember a time when I fell in love with singing. I always loved singing and I always loved music, particularly music, because I came to love opera at a later stage of my life. I must say that being at a German school in Cairo helped me a lot to develop a taste for classical music,”
– Fatma Said
