RNCM Alumna Wins 2016 Chilcott Award

Vocal alumna Soraya Mafi has been awarded the £10,000 Chilcott Award for young British opera singers.

Offered biennially to an opera singer between the ages of 23 and 33 who has the potential to make an international impact within the world of opera, the Chilcott Award is specifically designed to enable advanced training or career development.

Soraya, who graduated in 2010, is currently a Harewood Young Artist at English National Opera, this season singing Papagena in Simon McBurney’s The Magic Flute, and most recently Karolka in David Alden’s production of Jenufa. From 30 July she will sing the role of Despina in Così fan tutte with West Green House Opera.

Pianist Iain Burnside, chair of the Chilcott Award jury, said: ‘It is a pleasure and privilege to listen to the young singers selected to audition for the Chilcott Award. Soraya lit up the audition room with her voice, her artistry and her engaging personality. There is an integrity to her singing that struck a chord in all of us. We hope the Chilcott Award will enrich her artistic development, helping her on her journey to a very bright future.’

The Chilcott Award is offered by the Susan Chilcott Scholarship, an independent charity set up in 2005 in memory of Susan Chilcott, one of the outstanding singers of her generation, who died from cancer in 2003 aged 40.

19 July 2016