Maria Atallah is an award-winning and emerging Lebanese-Canadian composer based in Ottawa. She is a two-time first prize recipient of the SOCAN foundation Godfrey Ridout award for young composers (2017, 2018) and a prize winner for the 2018 Mécénat Musica Prix 3 Femmes for emerging female opera creators. Her opera The Chair, co-written with librettist and playwright Alice Abracen, has been described as “effective and powerful” (Operaramblings, Toronto) and showing “clarity and edge” (Barczablog, Toronto). Maria’s music explores melodic, heterophonic textures articulated by electroacoustic inspired techniques, drawing inspiration from the music of antiquity and eastern christianity.
While composer-in-residence with McGill University’s Schulich Singers, her work Mar Maroun for chamber choir, flute, and two percussionists saw performances across Ontario and Quebec, including a premiere at the Canadian Opera Company’s Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre. Maria holds a B.Mus from the University of Ottawa, having studied composition with John Armstrong and Frédéric Lacroix and an M.Mus from McGill University where she studied with Jean Lesage. Upcoming engagements include a new work for Esprit Orchestra commissioned with the generous support of the Ontario Arts Council.
While composer-in-residence with McGill University’s Schulich Singers, her work Mar Maroun for chamber choir, flute, and two percussionists saw performances across Ontario and Quebec, including a premiere at the Canadian Opera Company’s Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre. Maria holds a B.Mus from the University of Ottawa, having studied composition with John Armstrong and Frédéric Lacroix and an M.Mus from McGill University where she studied with Jean Lesage. Upcoming engagements include a new work for Esprit Orchestra commissioned with the generous support of the Ontario Arts Council.