Tenor Haitham Haidar discovered his passion for baroque music as a teenager in Lebanon. His older brother joined the classical choir at American University of Beirut, and Haidar attended one of the concerts.
“I was probably the only one in my school who found that music to be cool at 16,” Haidar quips in a Zoom interview with Pancouver from his home in Montreal.
At that tender age, he started doing his own research. And he recalls falling in love with two pieces in particular: Danish composer Dieterich Buxtehude’s Memba Jesu Nostri and George Frideric Handel’s Dixit Dominus. It wasn’t what most Lebanese Palestinian youths were listening to in his school. But he found them to be irresistible.
“There was so much heart and drama and passion and grit in that music that I related to,” Haidar says.
These compositions felt less pristine than regular symphonic music. Years later after studying music, Haidar realized that there’s considerable overlap between Arabic and baroque music. First off, many baroque instruments have predecessors common in the Arab world, such as the oud and lute.
“There was a familiar soundscape,” Haidar notes. “Then, of course, there’s the freedom of ornamentation, which is very much in Arabic music.”
Baroque describes richly ornamental art music composed in Western Europe from around 1600 to 1750. Early Music Vancouver celebrates one of the masters, Johann Sebastian Bach, in an summer festival.
Haidar is one of many talented artists who will perform this year. Bach Untamed runs from July 30 to August 8.
“My presence as a proud Palestinian on-stage is a form of resistance on its own—to say my light doesn’t dim just because it’s been deemed so,” Haidar says.
Haidar sings at two festival concerts
He will perform Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 on August 1 with a diverse group of talented singers. They include Cree-Métis Two-Spirit baritone Jonathon Adams, Canadian baritones Drew Santini and Stephen Bélanger, English tenor Charles Daniels, Canadian tenor Oliver Dalton, Czech soprano Hana Blažikova, Indian-born Parsi soprano Sherezade Panthaki, and Canadian altos Nicholas Burns and Emma Parkinson, a Chinese Canadian of mixed ancestry.
“It’s involving folks with different backgrounds and cultures,” Haidar notes. “Even when we are singing our classical standard repertoire, that’s already bringing in some timbres, colours, et cetera that are different and maybe new.
“We don’t usually see that type of representation,” he adds. “I would like to see more and more.”
Then on August 6, Haidar will perform with most of the same singers at Christ Church Cathedral in a program called Bach Motets: Vanish! Spirits of Gloom. Directed by the Munich-born Alexander Weimann, it will feature two special guests: the Indian classical music–trained and Kerala-born Shruti Ramani on vocals and Early Music Vancouver artist in residence and multi-instrumentalist Alon Sariel, on oud.
Haidar points out that with Bach Motets, there are opportunities to perform very quick improvisations between choral phrases. He reveals that this provides potential to bring forth Arabic maqam, which is a system of melodic modes.
Vocal ornamentation is also a hallmark of Indian classical music, so the Vancouver-based Ramani will feel at home in this milieu.
Meanwhile, Haidar acknowledges that musicians are so used to reading notation from what’s on the pages of a composition. However, he has discovered over the course of his studies and career that so much magic can occur when a singer pays close attention to sound.
“It’s something you hear and kind of translate into your own musical language—your ornament” he says.
Haitham Haidar performs “Li Beirut” at Woolsey Hall in New Haven, Connecticut.
Leaving war-torn Beirut
It’s remarkable that Haidar has thrived as a tenor, given the challenges of his childhood.
“I remember when I was in elementary school and we were performing our end of the year show,” he recalls. “The power went out. Then we realized that our power plant had been struck by Israeli missiles.”
As a result, people couldn’t even use a fan to cool down, let alone rely on air conditioning.
Then in 2006, he felt the effects of war firsthand. It came when he was volunteering at a community fair to package dry goods for Syrian refugees streaming into Lebanon.
“Somewhere very, very close by got bombed,” Haidar says. “That was wild. I remember running to my friend’s house and staying there—and trying to call my parents and telling them I’m okay.”
His parents advised him to remain there overnight, if necessary.
After finishing high school in Beirut, Haidar immigrated to Vancouver. He earned a bachelor’s of music at UBC, focusing on advanced performance in voice. After graduating in 2013, he moved to Montreal, where he studied at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University in Montreal. In 2019, Haidar graduated from Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music.
Finding his voice through culture
When he lived in Vancouver, Haidar wasn’t exposed to much Arab culture. But that changed dramatically once he started living in Quebec.
“I don’t think I realized at the time how much I had missed home until I moved to Montreal,” he says.
He started shopping at a Lebanese supermarket that played songs by iconic Lebanese singer Fairuz. He was exposed to the familiar give and take, friendliness, and aromas and flavours from Beirut.
Because there’s a larger Arab population in Montreal, he could also take in much more Arab arts and culture. This affected him artistically.
“I’m growing with it,” Haidar says. “It’s more and more rewarding, more and more stabilizing, I would say. Suddenly, all parts of you are aligning.”
In the past, he lived his life in a more compartmentalized way, quietening one part of his self to continue with the other part. Nowadays, at the age of 33, he’s feeling more liberated.
In recent years, Haidar has been exploring and presenting Arab music, whether it’s with Arabic or baroque instruments or a capella. It’s also informed his vocal technique.
Whereas in the past, he had a classical sound, an Arabic sound, and another sound when singing bel canto, he’s now bringing it all together.
“Suddenly, I am using one voice rather than what I felt like before,” Haidar reveals.
Haitham Haidar performed as a soloist in Henry Purcell: Welcome to All the Pleasures, Z339.
Haidar asked about his wardrobe
To this day, Haidar wonders if the bombings have informed or even possibly stifled his artistry. However, he also emphasizes that what he endured in Lebanon can’t be compared to the horrors of what’s taken place in Gaza since last October.
Israel launched an all-out assault on Gaza following Hamas’s attack on October 7 against Israeli civilians, resulting in 1,189 deaths, according to AFP. Since then, Gaza-based health officials report that nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed from the Israelie response. More than 100 hostages taken by Hamas remain unaccounted for.
The roots of the conflict go back to before Israel was founded in 1948. The creation of Israel resulted in hundreds of thousands of Palestinians being forced out of their communities and into exile in other countries.
For his part, Haidar was so disturbed by what happened last fall that he took a hiatus from music. He only returned later that year to perform Handel’s Messiah in Montreal.
Prior to that concert, the company’s director called him with about his wardrobe. According to Haidar, members of the board worried that he might wear something “offensive” on-stage.
“My question to the director was: ‘Have you contacted any of the other soloists to ask them what they are wearing?’ And the answer was ‘no’,” Haidar says. “So, I asked if you’re calling me because I’m Palestinian. And the silence is the ‘yes’.”
This incident filled him with anxiety when he should have felt excited about performing. As the tenor soloist, Haidar’s first piece was “Comfort Ye”, anchored by the phrase “comfort ye my people”.
“It took a lot of energy, first of all, to say those words—and also to not break down,” Haidar says.
Putting humanity first
He appreciates that there is a great degree of inclusivity in the arts, which will be on display at Bach Untamed, However, Haidar notes that the higher-ups in many arts organizations are business people, who often have different goals than the artists. Hence, the question about his wardrobe.
“I could brush it off,” Haidar says, “but it’s not that easy when it’s your family, your grandparents, your cousins.”
He has performed across North America and in Europe and Asia. According to his biography, his “approach to performance has always been humanity first”. To that end, he has sung in synagogues and churches.
Haidar thinks all faiths should lead people toward the same concept, which is to be a good person. However, he recalls once presenting the call to prayer in a synagogue, which offended some who were present.
“But I also had a lot of folks come up to me afterwards crying, saying ‘Thank you, we need to hear this. We need to unlearn what we have been taught and we need to actually look at fact, truth, and we need to listen to you in a way that is not biased.’”
He doesn’t want to describe his career choice as a “burden”. In fact, Haidar feels a responsibility to advance understanding about Palestinians as he pursues his calling. It’s why he often wears something from his culture when he performs.
“I want to show who we are because who we are is beautiful,” Haidar says. “It’s artistic; it’s welcoming; it’s a community.”
Event details
Early Music Vancouver presents the Bach Untamed Summer Festival from July 30 to August 8. Haitham Haidar will perform Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 with other singers on August 1 at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts. He will also perform at Bach Motets: Vanish! Spirits of Gloom with other singers on August 6 at the Christ Church Cathedral. For more information, visit the Early Music Vancouver website.
Follow Pancouver on X (formerly Twitter) @PancouverMedia and on Instagram @PancouverMedia.
