Maya Youssef

Syrian Virtuoso Qanun Player

"What makes an instrumentalist a virtuoso? I’d say it was a mystical symbiosis that takes place before your very ears and eyes, so that, for you, they define their instrument and their instrument defines them. Which is why audiences discover that Maya is both possessed by the Kanun and at the same time to personifiesy it. Every time I hear her play it's a revelation...she seems to reach another level of dextrous skill, to make the room resound with yet more passionate and beautiful music, to draw you further into her flamboyant and intricate maquam labyrinth. And she combines her extraordinary musical gifts with a generosity of outlook, warmth, humour and optimism which has legendarily accompanied virtuosos such as Ravi Shankar, Yehudi Menhuin or Meredith Monk through their lives." - Max Reinhardt, BBC