Boran Zaza, Program Coordinator

BORAN ZAZA, PROGRAM COORDINATOR

A committed lifelong learner who fluently communicates in multiple languages and dialects, Boran Zaza is a seasoned Arts Administrator, pianist and chorister who holds degrees in piano, music education, musicology, and web development from top institutions in Iraq, Lebanon and Canada, and was most recenly graduated from the prestigious Schulich School of Music of McGill University. Boran’s professional musical engagements have led her to perform in reputable venues in Canada, Iraq, Lebanon, Oman, Dubai, Italy and the USA. Her piano performances have been acclaimed by the press as “dramatic and full of vivid emotion” — (Arts and Culture Today).

Growing up in Iraq, Boran was a pianist and percussionist of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq; and hosted her own classical music radio program called “Behind the Music”, which was the first radio program dedicated to classical music in the country.

Currently based in Rimouski, Québec, Boran was the Executive and Artistic Director of the Oasis Musicale Concert Series and the Marketing Manager of the Orchestre classique de Montréal. She is currently Director of Communications and Development at Orchestras Canada.

In 2022, she founded “The Zaza Award for the Best Interpretation of a work by a Female Composer”, which was presented as part of the Stepping Stone division of the Canadian Music Competition. In her free time, Boran is an award-winning videographer who also enjoys public speaking, giving lectures on social media for classical musicians, and recording and performing new arrangements of Kurdish and Middle Eastern music on piano.

Julia Jordan, Choral Retreat Program Administrator

BIIMA alumna Julia Jordan (she/her) is an opera artist based in Halifax and has lived on the East Coast since 2020. After defending her thesis on operatic performance and pedagogy in 2022, she sang two seasons with the Halifax Summer Opera Festival and was commended for singing “with fine voice” in an “interpretation [that] was funny and commanding” (Opera Canada). She is currently co-music director at St. Andrew’s United Church, where she leads and coaches the choir in weekly performances. Administratively, she works as Director of Operations at the Atlantic Federation of Musicians, a professional association and union that serves and advocates for musicians in NS and PEI. Julia is excited to return for a second season as BIIMA’s Choral Retreat Program Administrator!