Filomena Campus
Vocalist/lyricist/theatre practitioner/academic, whose diverse influences range from modern literature, theatre and art to the culture of her native Sardinia. Campus has toured or collaborated with Orphy Robinson, Rowland Sutherland, Cleveland Watkiss, Huw Warren, Laura Cole, Byron Wallen, Jean Toussaint, Ruth Goller, Kenny Wheeler, Evan Parker, Nana Simopoulos, and the London Improvisers Orchestra, as well as with fellow Sardinian musicians Paolo Fresu, Gavino Murgia and Antonello Salis. Filomena has performed at many jazz festivals around the world, having played in the UK, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Qatar, Morocco, Thailand, and Croatia amongst others.
In 2010 she founded the Filomena Campus Quartet with Steve Lodder, Dudley Phillips, and Rod Youngs, with whom she released the album Jester of Jazz and has performed at London venues such as the PizzaExpress Jazz Club, the Vortex, Jazz Live at the Crypt and Ronnie Scott’s. The Quartet’s jazz/theatre project Italy VS England has been created with renowned Italian writer Stefano Benni, while the new quartet’s album, featuring bass player Charlie Pyne, will be released in 2023. In 2014 Campus recorded the album Scaramouche with guitarist Giorgio Serci, featuring the late Kenny Wheeler. 2013 saw Filomena launch her My Jazz Islands Festival, later renamed Theatralia Jazz Festival, in collaboration with PizzaExpress Jazz Club, an international gathering of Italian and UK jazz musicians and artists.
Filomena is the founder of Theatralia, an international collective of performers and artists who combine literature, physical theatre, performance art, and inventive digital art with live music. Theatralia’s productions directed by Filomena include Italy VS England, U238, and Not in My Name. Theatralia’s jazz/theatre performance Monk Misterioso. A Journey into the Silence of Thelonious Monk, supported by the Arts Council England, toured the UK and was sold out at the EFG London Jazz Festival in November 2017. www.filomenacampus.me