Camilleri moved from his early influences by Maltese folk music to a
musical form "in which nothing is fixed and his compositions evolve from themselves with a sense of fluency and inevitability". He composed over 100 works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, voice and solo instruments. During the 1970s he gained international attention. Camilleri's work has since been performed throughout the world and his research of folk music and
improvisation, the influences of the sounds of
Africa and
Asia, together with the academic study of European music, helped him create a "universal" style. Camilleri himself identified four key influences in his world music: According to the
Historical Dictionary of Malta, Camilleri is the most internationally recognized of major Maltese composers. His works include
Malta Suite,
Maltese Dances,
A Maltese Overture - Din l-Art Helwa, operas in Maltese, a ballet based on the
Knights of Malta and the oratorio ''Pawlu ta' Malta
. His piano piece Cantilena
, is currently part of the Grade 5 Trinity Guildhall piano syllabus. The Missa Mundi'' for solo organ was described by its first publisher as "the organ's
Rite of Spring".
Noospheres (1977) was premiered at
Canada House in London on 12 May 1979 by
Kyla Greenbaum (Crowcroft) and subsequently recorded by her. In 1989 Camilleri directed the Mediterranean Music conference at the
University of Malta. As a folklorist he worked with Ġużè Cassar Pullicino on the book
Maltese Oral Poetry and Folk Music (1998). He lived in
Naxxar at the Villa L’Għana. ==Death and legacy==