Loose Tea Music Theatre will “Zuleyja” at the Toronto Summer Music Festival on July 13, 2022.

The opera, which was composed by Afarin Mansouri, will be presented at Walter Hall in the University of Toronto Faculty of Music.

The cast of the opera will be headlined by Anne-Marie Ramos, who will star in the title role, as well as Tahirih Vejdani as the Maid. The musical group is made up of the Padideh Ahranejad ensemble, Ali Massoudi on percussion, and music director Saman Shadi at the piano.

“Zuleykha is nothing short of a beautiful act of female courage and defiance to self actualization. In a world where women are told to believe they are only important in relation to men, this opera follows the journey of a woman discovering who she is and how she wants to be, breaking outside the societal norms placed on her,” said executive artistic director Alaina Viau in an official press statement.

Founded in 2013, Loose Tea Music Theatre is a non-profit theater company that produces classical music in the Toronto area and presents works that challenge artists and audiences. The company focuses its creation on addressing social and critical issues through diverse stories.