Countertenor Cameron Shahbazi is quickly
emerging as one of the most promising artists of his generation. Hailing from
Canada, Shahbazi received his Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from the
University of Toronto, and his Master of Music at the Conservatorium van
Amsterdam.<<cut>>
The recipient of several notable awards and honours, Shahbazi was a finalist at the 2019 Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition. He was awarded the Second Prize at the 2018 Innsbruck International Cesti Competition for Baroque Opera, and a prize granted by the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden at the 2018 International Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition in Jūrmala, Latvia. Shahbazi was the winner of both the Prix de Révélation and the Prix Grand Avignon at the 2017 Opéra Raymond Duffaut Jeunes Espoirs Competition, hosted by the Opéra Grand Avignon. In 2019 Shahbazi was a grateful recipient of the Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation Awards, the Jaqueline Desmarais Foundation Grant, and in 2018 the Staetshuys Fonds Grant.
The most important future engagements include Tolomeo in Handel’s Tolomeo, re d'Egitto at Internationale Handel Festspiele Karlsruhe under Federico Maria Sardelli (February 2022) and Oberon in Britten’s A Midsummer Night's Dream at Oper Frankfurt under Geoffrey Paterson (May 2022).
The 2019/20 season marked many house debuts for Shahbazi including at Oper Köln singing Guildenstern in Brett Dean's Hamlet, and a 'digital debut' at the Dutch National Opera singing Sergey Diaghilev in Willem Jeth's Ritratto. Digital streaming of the opera reached over 80 000 viewers worldwide. Shahbazi did make his main stage debut with the Dutch National Opera in concert singing Mozart and Handel arias with players of the Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest.
The 2018/19 season marked a house debut for Shahbazi at the Theater Aachen singing Disinganno in Handel's Il Trionfo del Tempo del Disinganno. He appeared in several concerts and recitals including his afternoon recital debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. In the Netherlands, Shahbazi returned to De Nationale Opera & Ballet with the Baroque & Beyond Orchestra as part of their afternoon concert series, was part of the Handel in Dublin concert with the Dudok Quartet conducted by maestro Kenneth Montgomery, and was invited to join pianists Lucas and Arthur Jussen in concert at the TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht. In addition, Shahbazi was honoured to be named an ambassador for the Prostate Cancer Research Centre UK, for which he appeared in recital alongside graduates of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden’s Jette Parker Young Artist Program and Dame Ann Murray.
The 2017/18 season saw Shahbazi's American debut in the title role of Cavalli’s Il Giasone with Opera Neo and his debut with the Internationale Händel Festspiele Karlsruhe as Alto Soloist in Handel’s Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne under the baton of Christan-Markus Raiser. On the recital stage, Shahbazi performed a solo recital at De Nationale Opera with pianist Jeff Cohen.