Finding Home

Hailed as ‘queen of the qanun’, Maya Youssef is a globally renowned, award-winning qanun player and composer from Syria who is now based in London. Born in Damascus, because of the war in her home country Maya arrived in the UK in 2012, one of the very first artists to be invited under the UK Government’s Global Talent visa scheme, endorsed by Arts Council England as an Exceptional Talent; in 2023 she became a British citizen. Since then, Maya has pushed the boundaries of the qanun (a 78 stringed plucked zither traditionally played by men) and has performed at the South Bank, BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, The Barbican, Shakespeare’s Globe and WOMAD Festival.

Finding Home is a mesmeric journey through Maya Youssef’s memories of war-torn Syria. Through her virtuosic qanun-playing, she journeys through loss, transcendence and magic – finally arriving at hope. Alongside Finding Home, there will be extracts from her earlier album, Syrian Dreams: A Prayer for Peace, as well as other works. Maya will be joined by Ben Smith, piano and Elizabeth Nott, percussion for this performance.

‘Exquisite…a powerful homage, twists Arabic music cliches’ The Guardian