Resident Artists

Waleed Abdulhamid plays a blend of pan-African music, rooted in the sounds and chants of the nomads of North Africa through the Sahara down to the Gobi and the Kalahari, in southern Africa. Born in Sudan, Waleed began performing at the age of 6. A multi-instrumentalist, composer, vocalist and producer, Waleed has been an active member of the Toronto music scene, since his arrival in Canada in 1992. He demonstrates his versatility on guitar, bass, drums, flute, harmonica, kirin, bass kirin, darabhuka, marimba, balimbo, congas, bongos, djembe, dumbek and tama. Known for his striking vocals, his innovative bass technique and his speed and precision on percussion, Waleed has played, toured and recorded with The Claymen, AfroNubians, Solid Rock, and world jazz artist, Mosa Neshama. He is a founding member of award-winning African bands, Tikisa, Radio Nomad, Kings of Kush, and Balimbo.

David Buchbinder is a trumpeter, composer and cultural inventor. He leads numerous music groups, composes for concert, theatre, film and television, and presents large-scale performance projects and has toured extensively in North America and Europe. He has been involved in the creation and presentation of world music and jazz since 1987 and has earned a reputation as on of its compositional and instrumental leading lights, through the Flying Bulgars, and his creation of Ashkenaz: A Festival of New Yiddish Culture. He is the composer/creator/producer of Shurum Burum Jazz Circus, a unique music-centered extravaganza for 11 musicians and 7 movements artists from the world of circus and modern dance. His most recent music project is Odessa/Havana, an unprecedented fusion of Jewish and Cuban music with jazz. David is very involved in cross-cultural experimentation, exploring the places where the celebratory musical cultures of the Jews, Arabs, and other intersect, collaborating with his wife, Palestinian-Canadian dancer/musician/actor Roula Said. He recently debuted his Jerusalem Salon at the inaugural Canwest Cabaret Festival. In all of these endeavours, he and his gifted co-conspirators do their best to go for the joyful jugular.

Roberto Campanella first trained with the Scuola Italiana di Danza Contemporanea before joining the company and rising to the ranks of principal dancer. He later joined the prestigious Aterballetto in Italy, under the direction of Amedeo Amodio. In 1993, Roberto joined the National Ballet of Canada where he was soon promoted to soloist. In 1995, Campanella made his critically acclaimed choreographic debut at the National Ballet's Choreographic Workshop. He continues to choreograph for multidisciplinary shows and collaborations and in 2001 he was nominated for the Bonnie Bird Choreography Award in London. After leaving the National Ballet of Canada in 1996 he graduated with distinction from the National Ballet School Teacher Training Program and is now a sought after Ballet Teacher. Campanella guest teaches for the National Ballet of Canada, the National Ballet School, and The Randolph Academy of the Performing Arts. Campanella is a regular guest teacher for Stuttgart Ballet, National Ballet of Portugal, Korea National Ballet, Teatro Comunale in Bolzano, Italy and I.A.L.S. in Rome, among others. Roberto is currently the founder, choreographer, and Artistic Director of the contemporary dance company, ProArteDanza, launched in October 2004 to audience and critical acclaim.

Andrew Craig has musical directed high-profile tributes to Quincy Jones and Oscar Peterson, and arranged music for 50,000 children singing for Nelson Mandela. He has shared the stage with some of the biggest names in music: Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, and Molly Johnson, to name just a few. A true Renaissance man, Andrew is a singer, multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, producer, director, broadcaster and impresario. He is one of the most sought-after musicians in the Canadian scene in a broad range of musical activities. Andrew also frequently collaborates with leading theatre companies, film and television directors and contemporary dance choreographers. As a radio host and producer with CBC, Andrew continues to help showcase the remarkable breadth and depth of Canadian musical talent over the national airwaves and to the world via the Internet.

Weyni Mengesha is a Dora nominated director and composer who was born in Vancouver to Ethiopian parents. Her theatre credits include: director and composer for Trey Anthony’s hit play Da Kink in My Hair (Toronto, New York and London); director/dramaturge for d’bi.young’s blood.claat, which won the 2006 Dora Award for best new play; director/dramaturge for The Taxi Project (Pen Canada’s writers in exile collective); Director/co-writer for BliNK (Soulpepper/Luminato) and director for A Raisin In The Sun (Soulpepper/Theatre Calgary). She was associate artistic director of Theatre Passe Muraille (05/06) and a graduate of the inaugural Soulpepper Academy. She is a recipient of the Harold Award and a Harry Jerome Award for excellence in the arts and the 2008 recipient of the Toronto Arts Council Foundation’s RBC Emerging Artist Award.

John Millard is a Toronto-based composer, singer and songwriter, primarily composing for theatre. His work has graced stages from the Shaw Festival to Armstrong, B.C.'s Caravan Theatre. In the late 1980’s John founded a group of musical adventurers called The Polka Dogs. For several years they impressed, startled and amazed audiences in Canada and Europe with a body of great songs and original arrangements. In 1993 the members of the band went their own ways and John returned to writing for theatre. A half dozen years later, John got the itch to put together another band. John Millard and Happy Day is the result, and once again, John’s writing impresses and amazes.

Claudia Moore, artistic director of MOonhORsE dance theatre, has been creating and performing movement for theatre, film, multi-disciplinary collaboration and her own dance theatre productions since the late 1970's. Claudia’s work has been presented in Montreal, Vancouver, Halifax, Peterborough and Buffalo, New York. She curates the company’s Older and Reckless series and conducts regular performance training workshops called Poetry in Space. Recent work includes Ever Thus (2006), by Night (2004), CASA (2003), on earth (2002), and the Dora Award winning wishes and Small Midnight, co-choreographed by Moore and Tedd Robinson. Claudia is also the recipient of the Canada Council’s Jacqueline Lemieux Award for excellence in dance.

Andrea Nann is a Toronto based contemporary dance choreographer, performer, teacher and artistic director of Andrea Nann Dreamwalker Dance Company. As a choreographer, director and producer, Nann brings together artists from many different disciplines. A graduate of York University's Department of Fine Arts in 1988, Nann was a full-time member of the Danny Grossman Dance Company (DGDC) for fifteen years from 1988 to 2003 where she created, performed and taught major roles from the works of Mr. Grossman and guest choreographers. As an independent dancer, she has created and performed over forty original roles for a long list of prominent Canadian choreographers.

Patricia O’Callaghan was born and raised in Northern Ontario. In her travels, she has lived, studied and picked up the local languages in Mexico, Quebec, Germany, and France. Patricia divides her time between recording CDs, touring her own shows, and collaborating on other interesting projects, working towards her heart's ambition to bring her distinctive brand of cabaret to a broad-based audience. Recent appearances include opening the 2007 season with Soulpepper Theatre Company playing the role of Polly Peachum in The Threepenny Opera and the 2008 Young Centre season with multiple appearances at the Canwest Cabaret Festival. She is currently producing and co-creating a work called The Gypsy Wife with Tarragon Theatre which will see its premiere in the 2009/10 season. She also has the good fortune to appear in television shows, such as her own Bravo! special, Live at the Rehearsal Hall; the Rhombus/CBC special, Youkali Hotel; and the acclaimed Ken Finkleman drama, Foolish Heart.

Soheil Parsa is an award-winning director, actor, writer, dramaturge, choreographer and teacher whose professional theatre career spans thirty years and two continents. Born in Iran in 1954, he completed his studies in Theatre Performance at the University of Tehran and began a promising career as an actor and director. After the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the theatre was repressed and he was unable to continue his profession. Arriving in Canada in 1984, Soheil completed a second Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Studies at York University. In 1989 with actor Peter Farbridge, he established the Modern Times Stage Company, recognized as one of the most culturally-diverse theatre companies in Canada. Under Soheil’s direction, Modern Times has received 40 Dora Award nominations and 10 awards since its inception. Soheil has personally won 3 Dora Awards for Outstanding Direction and 2 for Outstanding New Play, translation/adaptation. In 2007, he was short-listed for The Siminovitch Prize for his work as a director.

Noah Richler was raised in Montreal and London, England. He made documentaries and features for BBC Radio for fourteen years before returning to Canada in 1998 to join the National Post, where he was the first books editor and then a literary columnist. He has contributed to numerous publications in Canada and the United Kingdom including the Globe and Mail, Maclean's, The Walrus, Granta, The Guardian, The Independent, and The Times. His book, This Is My Country, What’s Yours? A Literary Atlas of Canada was nominated for the 2006 Nereus Writer’s Trust Non-Fiction Prize and won the 2007 B.C. Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, and his magazine writing has won many National Magazine Awards. He was the host of the CBC’s weekly review, Richler on Radio, and wrote and presented a ten-part series, based on his research for his book, for CBC Radio One’s documentary strand, Ideas.