{"id":122029,"date":"2026-02-25T10:57:03","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T15:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=122029"},"modified":"2026-02-25T13:00:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T18:00:02","slug":"feature-iranian-toronto-violinist-saba-yousefi-talks-torontos-iranian-musical-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2026\/02\/25\/feature-iranian-toronto-violinist-saba-yousefi-talks-torontos-iranian-musical-community\/","title":{"rendered":"FEATURE | Iranian In Toronto: Violinist Saba Yousefi Talks About Toronto\u2019s Iranian Musical Community"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Violinist
Violinist Saba Yousefi, soprano Bahar Harandi, and pianist Narek Abrahamian, perform at Toronto\u2019s Heliconian Club on February 6, 2026 (Photo courtesy of the artists)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Roots and Ruins concert took place in Toronto earlier in February 2026. Some of Toronto\u2019s talented Iranian classical music community, including violinist Saba Yousefi<\/strong>, soprano Bahar Harandi<\/strong>, and pianist Narek Abrahamian<\/strong>, performed in front of a sold out crowd at the Heliconian Club.<\/p>\n

But, the concert almost didn\u2019t take place at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really great. It was different in a kind of way,\u201d says Yousefi. \u201cI didn\u2019t expect it. The performance anxiety \u2014 you always have it, but you try to transform it so that you perform it better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Iranian community in Toronto packed the venue, and emotions ran high, as she relates. Living under the shadow of a threatened invasion of Iran is taking its toll.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could feel the sadness and the sorrow. After performing for many years, it was very new.\u201d<\/p>\n

The performers came to tears on stage, hugged each other back stage, then went back to performing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was different,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I\u2019m really glad that I didn\u2019t cancel the concert.\u201d<\/p>\n

As she explains, it\u2019s a frequent discussion among Iranian musicians working in Toronto right now. \u201cThis is a debate,\u201d she says. \u201cShould we cancel?\u201d<\/p>\n

Is it the appropriate to keep going, keep performing, in a fraught political climate? Yousefi says that she\u2019s heard of some Iranian theatrical performances cancelling or postponing till better times come around, and ticket sales slowed for performances that do take the stage as planned. Roots and Ruins was also supposed to tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to have this concert in Toronto and Vancouver.\u201d The Vancouver date was cancelled.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree weeks before that, I was like no, we have to believe in the power of music. It\u2019s a community,\u201d she says. Still, with the situation worsening as the date grew nearer, doubts began to grow. In the end, they decided to make concert tickets free of charge, to encourage even more people to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s cry together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Music became a way of expressing themselves as a community. \u201cI prepared a piece that\u2019s historical in Iranian culture It\u2019s about revolutions. I printed all the poems of the piece as well.\u201d The text was distributed throughout the audience. \u201cThe last piece that we performed, we all sang together with the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shared experience was cathartic. \u201cThat was really helpful, when we sang together,\u201d Saba says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what music is really about.\u201d She points out that the ensemble performed music by Saint-Sa\u00ebns and other Western composers, along with Iranian music per se.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a situation that seems surreal. \u201cIt\u2019s a really, really strange time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Violinist
Violinist Saba Yousefi and pianist Narek Abrahamian, perform at Toronto\u2019s Heliconian Club on February 6, 2026 (Photo courtesy of the artists)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Iranian Music in Toronto<\/h3>\n

As Saba points out, the community of Iranian artists in Toronto, and in Canada overall, has been growing significantly over the last few years. Many were not able to perform in their home country due to its religious restrictions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really happy that we have this community in Toronto.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says it\u2019s a community that consists of many specific fields and genres, and many individuals are multidisciplinary artists, including traditional musicians, ethno-musicologists, classical and contemporary musicians<\/a>, theatre artists, composers, and others.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany, many collaborations are happening with Toronto artists<\/a>,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Poetry and music, in particular, figure prominently in Iranian culture. \u201cMost of them are active,\u201d she says of the Iranian arts community in Toronto. Like many Canadian artists overall, they often balance their time between teaching and performing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re trying to make a bridge between east and west.\u201d Many incorporate training both in Iran and Canada, combining practices, and collaborating with artists in the Western traditions.<\/p>\n

Saba says that when she came to Toronto about 15 years ago, she knew of one other Iranian music student, and one composer. \u201cNow, there is so many Iranians,\u201d she says. \u201cIt reduces my homesickness as well. We have two countries in one country,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

Collaborating with Canadian artists creates a shared space in their new home. \u201cThat\u2019s a really beautiful thing about being an artist,\u201d she says. Over the last five or six years, in particular, she\u2019s seen the rise of Iranian\/Persian based performances, and multidisciplinary projects.<\/p>\n

Traditional sound worlds are brought forward into modern-day Canada. \u201cI think it\u2019s less about preserving the [traditional art forms], it\u2019s more about reinterpreting it,\u201d she says. In Canada, she points out, artists can create from a place that reflects on history and tradition, but with a modern sensibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are really grateful to be here, because of the chances that you have.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Violinist
Violinist Saba Yousefi, soprano Bahar Harandi, and pianist Narek Abrahamian, perform at Toronto\u2019s Heliconian Club on February 6, 2026 (Photo courtesy of the artists)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Creation in Difficult Times<\/h3>\n

\u201cI was thinking about the history of my country,\u201d she says, \u201cwhat was going on from many years ago. Are we going to grow out of these difficult times?\u201d As she points out, however, the history of Iran is one that includes the Mongol invasions, and many turbulent times. \u201cThe cultural life did not disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n

She notes that some of the most famous Persian poets, like Rumi (Jal\u0101l al-D\u012bn Mu\u1e25ammad R\u016bm\u012b<\/strong>, 1207 \u2013 1273), and Saadi Shirazi<\/strong> (1210 \u2013 1291), wrote during the Mongol conquest of Persia and Mesopotamia.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the same spirit,\u201d she says. \u201cArt becomes a way of processing collective experience. We can all grow out of this, and create more work, and create meaning out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says she encourages people to take the time to go to concerts, take a poetry class, and otherwise involves themselves in the arts.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot to escape the grief, but to experience it together through music. We should trust music to do its job.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Violinist Saba Yousefi talks about the Roots and Ruins concert that took place earlier in February 2026, and Toronto\u2019s Iranian music community today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":122032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[42533,76,18,19,4967,29,63,72],"tags":[41261,6102,42692,41262],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/Copy-of-FEATURE-29.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-vKd","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122029"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122029"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122038,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122029\/revisions\/122038"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122029"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=122029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}