Started in 2021 by Labyrinth Ontario, the Labyrinth Ensemble engages in two residencies a year with various international guest artists, such as Maliheh Moradi and Evgenios Voulgaris. They are dedicated to experimenting with and promoting modal music traditions of Central, West, and South Asia, and the Mediterranean, and are trained to appreciate the particularities of makam music without compromise. In promoting cross-cultural work, the Ensemble unites the distinct but historically connected musics of Asia and the Mediterranean on their own terms, rather than altering tunings and rhythms to match European music theory as is often the norm.

The performing members are: Sadaf Amini, Julian Anderson-Bowes, Yang Chen, Burak Ekmekçi, Michael K. Harrist, Roa Lee, Sasan Salaseli, Araz Salek, Marta Solek, Tev Stevig, Aysel Taghi-Zada, and Amely Zhou.

Born in Tehran, Âriâ Mohâfez studied santur and tombak with Sa’id Ma’sumi, Mehri Râstqadam, and Majid Kiâni.

In 2007 Mohâfez became a member of the Hamnavâzân-e Sheydâ ensemble, appearing on audio recordings such as Vatanam Iran, Yâdvâre-ye Âref-e Qazvini, and Sâye-ye Jân.

Since being awarded runner-up in the highly competitive Solo Instrumental section at the Mugam festival in Azerbaijan (2018), Mohâfez has released duet albums Sarva (2016) and Peyda (2018) and toured around Iran with teacher Mohammad-Rezâ Lotfi and Switzerland with Sepidar Ensemble.

His Canadian debut will be on May 3 with the Labyrinth Ensemble.