Filomena Campus Quartet & Collaborations

Campus formed her quartet in 2010 with pianist Steve Lodder and double bassist Dudley Phillips. Their acclaimed album Jester of Jazz (Egea/Sam Records) featured Winston Clifford on drums, with special guests Jean Toussaint and Rowland Sutherland. Drummer Rod Youngs joined the band in 2014, with Charlie Pyne completing the current line-up.

Since its formation, the quartet has gained both audience and critical acclaim, performing regularly at major London venues, and appearing at international festivals and theatres across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Following their first album and the subsequent project Italy vs England, created with the late Italian author and performer Stefano Benni, the quartet now presents Theatralia, recorded in London at World Heart Beat studios and released by the British label 33Jazz Records. The album artwork is by Sardinian artist Gina Tondo.

THEATRALIA

The title of the album refers to a dreamlike landscape, an ideal and utopian place of creativity in which music, theatre, literature and improvisation merge, creating a bridge between Sardinian roots and the multicultural energy of London. From this emerges a unique artistic language: an immersive experience that moves across word, sound and gesture, and also stands as a tribute to the artists who have marked Campus’ artistic path, such as Stefano Benni and Franca Rame. It is no coincidence that Theatralia is also the name of Campus' theatre ensemble.

As the magazine Jazzwise wrote:
“The performance intertwines fantastical and political elements, blending jazz, theatre and literature with great naturalness. Campus sings in multiple languages and builds a unique performative universe, in which the theme of female vocality is central. Through a strong stage presence, she continuously transforms, moving from mythical characters to contemporary narratives. The result is a cathartic, ironic, dramatic and visionary show, capable of regenerating and inspiring: a unique and irreplicable reality in the British jazz scene.”

The repertoire includes original compositions, with music by Lodder and Pyne and texts by Campus, together with new arrangements drawn from the artist’s repertoire and her international collaborations, including a virtuosic arrangement for solo voice of a Jobim piece.

The songs evoke imaginative worlds and celebrate real and mythical female figures, from Shakespeare’s Queen Mab to the Sirens of the Odyssey, up to the myth of Philomela reinterpreted by T.S. Eliot, and artists such as Niki de Saint Phalle, Franca Rame and Michela Murgia, giving life to a sonic narrative rich in theatrical suggestions.

Song of a Siren explores the power of female vocality also in the light of the thought of the philosopher Adriana Cavarero. Mi Drommia recalls the Janas of Sardinian tradition, blending Mediterranean roots, contemporary jazz and electronic elements with the text of the Sardinian poet Antonio Maria Pinna, while Unsettled (Status) is a love letter to London despite Brexit. SHE pays tribute to the strength of migrant women, Per Franca gives voice to a poem by Benni, while Niki’s Dream, inspired by Niki de Saint Phalle, becomes a gesture of solidarity recalling the motto “Woman, Life, Freedom”.

The project also includes new arrangements of pieces written in the past by Campus with Sardinian musicians, including guitarist Massimo Ferra and pianist Paolo Carrus. In the live performance, the quartet also presents a new arrangement by Dudley Phillips of Creuza de Mä by Fabrizio De André, with translation by Benni, who also wrote the text of the satirical piece God Save the Queen, on music by Lodder.

Reviews and Feedback

"The four of you have created something quite unique and I can't wait to hear the results on the new album!" Jonathan Coe

“Her scat is literally something unique, with a distinctly modernist approach.” — Jazz in Europe

“Campus seemed to improvise from deep within, as if she threw herself fearlessly into the unknown, taking the audience with her.” — LondonJazz

“On stage Campus is a true shaman of music.” — ANSA

“Attending a Filomena Campus concert is always a musical joy, but the latest went beyond all expectations… a truly memorable experience, capable of enriching those who live it.” — Nicol Dynes

“The concerts of the Filomena Campus Quartet are pure jazz dream material… a real triumph.” — Candace Allen

“A Filomena Campus concert is like spending an evening with a friend… an experience full of elegance and emotion.” — John Ingham

“A magnetic performer… an unforgettable experience.” — Alessandra Rizzo

JAZZWISE review (March 2026)

Filomena CampusQuartet bring theatrical colour to the Vortex

By Alice Hill

The vocalist brings her multi-lingual, multi-faceted music for a night of fantastical and
political music making

Fusing jazz, theatre, and literature is a feat very few UK-based performers attempt, yet
bandleader, vocalist, theatre practitioner, radio host, and academic researcher
Filomena Campus blends the creative arts with ease.

She has collaborated with improvisation legends Evan Parker, Orphy Robinson, and Kenny
Wheeler, and is established in London as a unique and sought-after performer.

Campus invokes her Sardinian heritage by including Sardinian poetry and performing in five
European languages: English, Italian, Sardinian, Portuguese (for just one song:
an a cappella cover of 'Águas de Março'), and Genovese.

The Filomena Campus Quartet was originally formed in 2010; while pianist Steve Lodder and
drummer Rod Youngs have remained in the band, Charlie Pyne is now the band's
double bassist. This event also included a surprise special guest: Sicilian
actor Marco Gambino.

Throughout the performance, the "power of female vocality" was a central theme. The
quartet performed songs dedicated to artist Niki de Saint Phalle; theatre
actress Franca Rame; "naughty fairies" from Sardinian folklore;
Shakespeare's fairy midwife, Queen Mab; women migrants; sirens; and Philomena,
the Nightingale in Greek mythology. Bassist Pyne's song 'Daughters of Water'
built on the quartet's feminist rhetoric, involving satirical, humorous, and
lamenting elements. Across this array of feminine representations, Campus'
theatrical presence allowed her to morph in and out of each story. The vocalist
transformed into Queen Mab, the fairy midwife in Romeo and Juliet, in an almost
operatic sense by wearing a mask, waving her arms as if they were delicate wings,
and adding laughter and other ad libs to Gambino's bold recitation of
Shakespeare's description before singing her emotions to a captivated audience.
Similarly, in 'Song of a Siren', her initial spoken word ascended into
technically impeccable portamentos, projected so strongly that the microphone
was held far away from her face.

Healing, inspiring, cathartic, comedic, dramatic, political, fantastical, the Filomena
Campus Quartet is truly irreplicable in the British jazz scene. The Vortex gig
was in part an album preview, as the band are currently in the process of
recording their next LP, which is eagerly awaited.