MYSTICAL VISITATIONS: MARYEM TOLLAR IN CONCERT
MARYEM TOLLAR is one of Canada’s finest vocalists and CHRISTOS HATZIS is one of our most acclaimed and performed composers (www.hatzis.com ).
Small wonder that they have joined forces on a series of projects including the opera, Constantinople, which has been performed from Banff to New Haven and will take Maryem and Christos to the stage of London, England’s Covent Garden next March.. Shortly after winning the 2006 JUNO for Classical Composition of the Year, having been nominated three times previously, Christos began writing a piece especially for Maryem. On December 17, Mystical Visitations will receive its world premiere.
A ’surround sound’, electro-acoustic composition in four parts, Mystical Visitations includes texts by Hatzis, a Sufi devotional song drawn from Constantinople and rearranged for this performance, and music by Hatzis, some pre-recorded and much performed live. All of it is inspired by, and created for, the wondrous instrument that is the voice of Maryem Tollar.
Impossible to describe, Mystical Visitations is complex, challenging, adventurous and passionate- adjectives that also sum up its composer and featured vocalist.
While the world premier of Mystical Visitations will form the second half of the performance, the evening will move through time, beginning with a couple of traditional Arabic folk songs. Then come two songs from Maryem’s latest CD, Book of Life, and both have a Montreal connection- the first is a tribute to, and lament for, Rachel Corrie, the American peace activist killed in Gaza and written by Montreal poet, Ehab Lotayef; the second is the first known Arabic poem about Canada- Aylul Fi Montreal/Autumn in Montreal, written by a Lebanese poet passing through a hundred years ago.
The first half of the concert will conclude with Ernie Tollar’s World Wasla, composed as a commission funded by the Canada Council for the Arts. In Arabic music a ‘Wasla’ is a set or ‘medley’ of pieces based in a common maqam (mode). World Wasla weaves together many strands of world music to create a sonic tapestry of many colours. It finishes with a new poem by Ehab Lotayef with music written by Maryem and Ernie.
To bring all this to life, Maryem and Christos have assembled a collection of Toronto’s most accomplished musicians. ERNIE TOLLAR will handle flutes and saxophones; Maza Meze’s JAYNE BROWN and SOPHIA GRIGORIADIS will add their voices; violinist HUGH MARSH; as will KATHLEEN KAJIOKA, baroque violist and violinist. Bass virtuoso RICH BROWN; veteran flamenco guitarist, NICOLAS HERNANDEZ; plus percussionists MARK DUGGAN and RICK SHADRACH LAZAR.