Bring a lawn chair and a picnic basket and experience local music performances in the garden paradise that is the Spadina Museum! Bring a picnic, or purchase some snacks in our Museum Boutique, and relax under the shade of our historic trees.

The music series is pay-what-you-wish.

Maryem and Ernie Tollar:

Maryem Tollar is a vocalist and plays riqq (Arabic tambourine) and qanun (Arabic table harp). Ernie Tollar plays sax, Arabic flutes and Indian flutes. They perform original compositions, as well as popular traditional Arabic repertoire – from Sufi Devotional Love songs from the Arab World to popular folk songs, to classic Egyptian songs made famous by the stars of Egypt (the Hollywood of the Middle East).

Maryem Tollar

Maryem Tollar is a renowned Egyptian-Canadian vocalist, known for her world music performances. Her voice has been heard on the theme of CBC’s Little Mosque on the Prairie and A.R. Rahman’s Bollywood hit, Mayya Mayya. Tollar was the featured vocalist in Tafelmusik’s production of multi-media performances of “Tales of Two Cities: The Leipzig-Damascus Coffee Houses” and the narrator and vocalist in “Safe Haven”. She performed Christos Hatzis’ piece “Syn-Phonia – Migration Patterns” with The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Inuit throat singer Tiffany Ayalik; and his multi-media piece “Constantinople” with The Gryphon Trio and Patricia O’Callaghan. She performs with several Toronto musical groups including Al Qahwa (Traditional Arabic Music and Original compositions); Turkwaz (Traditional Turkish, Greek, Arabic and Balkan vocal repertoire); LuA (co-led by Shameema Soni) and storyteller Dawne McFarlane, adding music and sounds for performances at the Toronto Storytelling Festival, The Scottish International Storytelling Festival and at Silence Guelph. Maryem toured in the fall of 2022 with “The Cave” (Libretto by Tomson Highway, Music by John Millard, Script by Martha Ross). January to April 2023, she toured with the stage adaptation of Ann-Marie MaDonald’s book “Fall On Your Knees” providing music and acting in the role of Mrs. Mahmoud (Directed by Alisa Palmer, Script by Hannah Moscovitch). Maryem was awarded the inaugural Johanna Metcalf Prize for Performing Arts in 2019.

Ernie Tollar

Ernie Tollar is an internationally renowned musician and composer who has been contributing to the Toronto Jazz and World Music scene since 1980. He has performed in major jazz and folk festivals in Europe, India, Egypt, U.S.A., and across Canada. He can be heard with several Toronto groups including Al Qahwa (Traditional Arabic Music and Original compositions); Near East Trio (Indian/Arabic/Jazz); Moneka Arabic Jazz (North African/Arabic/Jazz); and Armenian Jazz led by Levon Ichkhanian. In 2022, Ernie created an étude book for the ‘world woodwind’ player.