Christiane Najjar

Christiane Najjar began with classical piano and moved into Oriental singing at the Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music, continuing with musical and academic training at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik. Her voice is a warm, rounded, notably steady instrument — what Arabic tradition calls a khāma ʿarīda, a broad sonority — and it suits sacred and meditative repertoire particularly well.

She works across three liturgical traditions. The Maronite chant carries its Aramaic roots; the Syriac repertoire brings rhythmic complexity and modal richness; the Byzantine adds its scales and the held drone of the ison. Alongside these she sings classical repertoire and the traditional music of Lebanon, and she has devoted a tribute concert to Zaki Nassif, one of the country's most influential composers.

Her career began in church singing and has taken her across Lebanon, Europe, the Middle East and the United States. Her recordings and collaborations have been broadcast internationally and heard at sacred music festivals, and she takes part in cultural and humanitarian initiatives alongside the concert work.