Biography

With journalist, writer and photographer father, Hassan M. Youssef, who loves music, a translator mother who's a member in the Syrian Book Committee and a talented lute player brother speaking several languages, Maya grew up in a family that has art as her niche.

At the age of ten, Maya started playing kanun in Solhi Alwadi Music Institute, and graduated with excellent degree in 2002.

She continued her academic studies at the High Institute of Music in Damascus, and again graduated with excellent degree in 2007. She was trained with different schools of playing kanun: Arabic School, Turkish School, Azerbaijani school ,and also performed Western Classical music on kanun.

She also graduated from the faculty of English Literature from  the University of Damascus in 2011.

Maya participated in many significant workshops, including the ones held by great Turkish kanun players: Khalil Karaduman and Guksel Bagtakir.

In 2003, she founded the “Syrian Female Orientale Group (SFOG)” with five of her musician colleagues giving live performances in many important events in Syria as well as distinguished European and Asian cities, like Bologna, Amsterdam, Beijing, Frankfurt and Athens.

Maya moved to Dubai in 2007, and focused on building her career as a soloist, performing in many places like Al-Qasbaa Sharjah, Sultan Alowais Foundation in Dubai, Burj AlArab to name a few and has been giving  private lessons in music.

She moved to Muscat from Dubai in 2009 and started teaching kanun and Arabic Music Theory in the Department of Music and Musicology, College of Arts and Social Scienses, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman.

Maya is currently living and working in the Sultanate of Oman.