French-Belgian cellist Camille Thomas 'very happy to be a part of InClassica 2024'

The 13th edition of the InClassica International Music Festival, organised by SAMIT Event Group, is currently in full swing at Dubai Opera, with daily evening concerts taking place at the luxurious venue, bringing together classical music lovers from all over the world to experience some of the most acclaimed musicians of our time in live performance.

French-Belgian Cellist Camille Thomas is one such maestro. Having started playing the cello from the age of 4, Thomas has been making waves in the music world for most of her life. She has been an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist since April 2017, and has already worked with such conductors as Paavo Järvi, Mikko Franck, Marc Soustrot, Darrell Ang, Kent Nagano, and Stéphane Denève, and with orchestras including the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Academia Santa Cecilia, the Sinfonia Varsovia, Staatsorchester Hamburg in the Elbphilharmonie, the Lucerne Festival Strings in the Herkulessaal in Munich, the Orchestre National de Bordeaux, and Brussels Philharmonic.

On Saturday, February 3, Thomas took to the stage of Dubai Opera to perform Composer-in-Residence Alexey Shor’s Cello Concerto No. 2, accompanied by Norwegian conductor Eivind Gullberg Jensen and the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. We met up with the star after the concert to speak to her about her time here in Dubai.

How was your experience at InClassica 2024?

“This was my second time at the Dubai Opera, and I really loved it. The first time I was here I played alone – the Bach suite – so it’s a very different experience now to play with an orchestra. It was my first time working with Eivind Gullberg Jensen and the Berlin Symphony and it went very well. I’ve just come from America where I was playing another concerto, and then met this orchestra from Berlin here in Dubai, and this great conductor from Norway who is also here in Dubai…it’s quite exciting, and I’m very happy to be part of this great festival in Dubai and to bring classical music to Dubai because I think it’s great that classical music can travel everywhere. The magic of it is that you don’t need to speak the same language, since it only speaks about feelings. That’s why you can express yourself to everyone and touch the hearts of people all over the world, which I find so beautiful.

What did you think of the audience here in Dubai, and their reaction to your work?

“Well, classical music is indeed becoming more common here in Dubai, and it’s very obvious. The first time I came here was in 2020, so around 4 years ago, and I could already feel a big change. They were a great audience, and I think the opera and the organisers are doing a great job to help open classical music up to new people and reach different audiences, which is such an important thing for us.”

Can you tell us a bit about the programme that you presented this evening?

I played Alexey Shor’s Cello Concerto No. 2, and it was my first time performing a piece by Shor. It’s great to play contemporary music from a living composer; it’s very exciting and he was also sitting in the audience even during the rehearsals so we could get to know his comments which you cannot do when you’re playing some Beethoven or Brahms. There is perhaps some more pressure, but I believe that while you have to, of course, learn what the composer wants, it is then up to you to live it, like you would be an actor or actress and become your text, become the character you are playing. Ultimately, it’s all about the music and feeling so we shouldn’t be stressed. Also, I think that Shor’s approach to music is very nice. I love everything about it, especially the second movement; it’s very moving I feel. I love singing with my cello and in this movement I could really sing, and it’s music that’s so easy to get for the audience, so full of joy and is really full of great qualities.

Now that your time in Dubai is almost done, what is next on the cards for you?

I’m just finishing a recording that I recorded in Armenia. It’s an homage to Charles Aznavour, the French-Armenian singer; it will be the 100th anniversary of his birth in May. That will be my next album for Deutsche Grammophon, it comes out on May 17, and I’m very excited about it. And then the next event is a tour in Japan playing a Dvorak concerto so I’m always on the go and meeting new people!

The InClassica International Music Festival concluded at Dubai Opera on February 15. For more information, visit the official website inclassica.com.

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