$15 or PWYC

Over the last decade and more, Maryem Tollar has built a reputation as a performer who can live and thrive in a variety of milieus. She was born in Egypt and raised in Canada with frequent sojourns in the Middle East. She performs classical/traditional Arabic music as well as her own original music. She was a featured performer playing “Ariana” in R. Murray Schafer’s Dora Award-winning piece, The Children’s Crusade. She has toured across Canada several times with a variety of projects including her own ensemble; Christos Hatzis’ multimedia project, Constantinople and his large scale work Sepulcher of Life. She premiered “From the Song of Songs” by Christos Hatzis and performed/commissioned by Tafelmusik.

Maryem has sung on several film and television scores including the theme music for CBC Television’s Little Mosque on the Prairie and A.R.Rahman’s hit “Mayya Mayya” in the Bollywood movie Guru. Her CD Cairo to Toronto was nominated for a 2009 Juno Award in the world music category. She performed and created the live music in Heather Raffo’s Nine Parts of Desire in May 2010, a play about nine Iraqi women, and was nominated for a Dora Award (Outstanding ensemble cast).

“There are not enough superlatives that I can use to describe Maryem’s artistry. Suffice to say this: I have been blessed by having worked with a number of incredible artists all over the world… but if I had to make the painful decision of associating with only one of them in the future, that person would be Maryem Tollar. Her incredible voice and uncanny ability to be at home in any musical/theatrical situation impressed everyone she came in contact with.” ~ Christos Hatzis, Juno-award winning composer, University of Toronto