Composer

Born in Ħamrun, the son of Carmel Camilleri and Josephine née Quinton, Carmelo known as Charles considered as the most cosmopolitan of contemporary Maltese composers, from early childhood displayed impressive musical abilities. He studied at the Lyceum and his music studies from his father, and later Joseph Abela Scolaro, Paul Nani and Carmelo Pace.

Camilleri’s first exposure to musical instruction were those normally given to any European child of his time. His father taught him the rudiments of music and then introduced him to the piano and later on to the piano-accordion. During the war years, Camilleri attended the Ħamrun Primary School, where he did extremely well, and at the age of 11 he successfully sat for the Lyceum Entrance examination.

Charles Camilleri became one of the first students of Mro Joseph Abela Scolaro, who between 1942 and 1972 was the musical director of San Gaetano Band Club. Camilleri’s progress on the clarinet was rapid, and he soon began playing it during band concerts and marches. Camilleri bagan attending the British Council concerts in the Auberge d’Aragon in Valletta. Another growing interest was the organ in which he was self-taught. He became organist of the Ħamrun Parish Church. The organ remained one of Camilleri’s greatest loves for which he later wrote some of his greatest works, which rank among the most exciting in the most exciting in the international repertoire written for that majestic instrument in the second half of the 20th century.

Camilleri’s total allegiance to music became confirmed when the Lyceum headmaster decided to organise in the school theatre a music concert dedicated wholly to the compositions of Charles Camilleri, which took place during the early months of 1948. The concert included the piano concerto that he had just written and a violin concerto specifically composed for the occasion.  It was the first formal concert of Camilleri’s works.

Camilleri’s 1947 summer visit to the Albert Hall had crystallized his boyhood dream of wanting to become a professional composer. In 1949 Charles and his family migrated to Australia, and for him this was the start of many decades of travels and associated diverse and enriching musical experiences.

Between 1954 and 1959 he was based for the first time in London, continuing his successful career in light music mainly with theatre producer Harold Fielding. In 1959 he was in Canada, studying with John Weingweig at theUniversity of Toronto.  His musical activities extended to the United States and, additionally, stimulating contacts in different countries with  a  number of the great visionary composers of the 20th century, among them Igor Stravinsky, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Zoltán Kodály, and Olovier Messiaen.

During this period, Charles made frequent visits to Malta, and, finally in 1983 he made his native country his permanent residence, at a time when he was still preoccupied with the soundscape of a region, at a time when he was still preoccupied with the soundscape of a region and with a composer’s ability to translate it into a meaningful musical language.

Camilleri local and foreign reputation is based on his interest in Maltese folk music which led to wider scientific research in Mediterranean music which is reflected in a significant part of his opus.

At the age of 16, Camilleri presented a concert of his own works. Performances of his works which included Maltese folk music for the first time were performed in London and the USA between 1954 and 1959.

In 1968 an all-Camilleri concert was held at London’s Festival Hall and, during Japan’s Expo 70, he premiered his second piano concerto. His Missa Mundi was recorded in 1972 by Decca in London and on CD by Decca in 2005: his third piano concerto was premiered in Leningrad in 1987; whilst his cello concerto had its first performance at the Helsinki Festival.

Camilleri wrote operas, orchestral works, chamber ensembles, concertos, operas, a ballet and the famous Malta Suite and Missa Mundi.  He has over 300 compositions; 150 of which have been published by Novello, Boosey & Hawkes, Lengnick, and Roberton. UNESCO published his book Mediterranean Music. Lengnick published his books on improvisation while over 50 of his compositions are available on CDs. In June 2003, the British record company – Meridian – released a series of three CDs featuring Camilleri’s music.

Camilleri wrote his two Maltese operas, Il-Wegħda (1984) and Il-Fidwa tal-Bdiewa (1985), and his two Maltese oratorios Pawlu ta’ Malta (1985) and L-Għanja ta’ Malta (1989), while The Maltese Cross was premiered in Malta in October 1995.

Opera compositions continued to occupy his attention,and the very controversial Campostella (1992) and Maltese Cross (1994), both to English libretti by Peter Serracino Inglott*, have been the subject of a lot of heated debate on account of their unusual sonorities, together with a creativity that seeks to encompass the most permanent of human spiritual involvement.

Camilleri was the artistic director of the Malta Arts Festival (1993-95), the founder of the Malta International Choir Festival, and artistic director of the Valletta Festival (1996). In February 2002 Camilleri performed the world premiere at the American ambassador’s residence at Attard of Dirge 11/9/1, a composition written to immortalize in music the tragedy of September 2001. In February 2004 a celebrity concert of Camilleri’s music, highlighting various salient points of his fifty-year career, was held at the Corinthia Palace, Attard.

The first professor of music at the UM, Camilleri was nominated Chevalier dans l’Ordres des Arts et Lettres by France. He was also member of the RGPM of the Order of St John and OUM. In December 1994 Camilleri was appointed official of the National Order of Merit, (M.O.M).

Charles married Doris nee Vella on 22 September 1957 and they had a son and a daughter.

Camilleri’s substantial and precious contribution to the musical herritage of Malta and that of the world totalled more than 300 works written over a period of about 65 years.

This biography is part of the collection created by Michael Schiavone over a 30-year period. Read more about Schiavone and his initiative here.