Raha Javanfar is a multi-faceted artist, musician, lighting and projections designer, theatre performer, theater director, and educator. Born in Iran, she was raised in Toronto where she currently lives and work.
Raha's artistic career is a rich fabric of numerous projects in various fields.
A classically trained violinist with a passion for roots music, Raha regularly plays fiddle in the Western Swing Band, The Double Cuts, and has played with such notable artists as Stars, Protest the Hero, Peter Katz, Tom Wilson, and Daniel Romano. She is the front-woman bassist and vocalist of Maple Blues Award nominee blues/R&B band: Bad Luck Woman & Her Misfortunes. Her other musical projects include Voodoo Raha & Speedy Wax and Zuze, as well as a Slaight Associate Artist at Soulpepper Theatre where she is frequently featured in the Concert Series (Riverboat, 27 Club, 88 Keys, Promised Land, The Golden Record, Detroit: Music of the Motor City). In November 2023, she has created and music directed “Sympathy For The Devil” at Soulpepper Theater.
Raha has been part of various Dora Award-winning and nominated projects, including "The Shape of Home" (2023 Dora Award for Outstanding Musical Direction) and "Rose" (2019 winner of 4 Doras, including Outstanding New Musical Direction, and nominated for 11), two Musicals at Soulpepper Theatre. She is one of the six co-creators of "Now You See Her" (2019 Dora Award for Best New Play) a play by Quote Unquote Collective produced by Nightwood Theatre, in which she also performed the role of Daria.
Raha has toured globally with Toronto Baroque orchestra, Tafelmusik, for over a decade as projections designer of concerts such as House of Dreams, Circle of Creation, and Tale of Two Cities, which have been performed in concert halls as notable as Disney Hall in Los Angeles, the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, as well as venues in Mexico, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, and numerous other countries. Other projections design credits include Der Freischutz, Alcina (Opera Atelier), Stream (National Ballet School of Canada), Life of Jude (Appledor), and The Peace Maker (Next Stage Festival).
Raha’s lighting design credits include Sizwe Bansi is Dead, Is God Is (Dora Nomination), Brothers Size (Dora Nomination), Riverboat, Voyager (Soulpepper), Miss Caledonia (Tarragon), Saltwater Moon, and Amelia: The Girl Who Wants to Fly (Festival Players of Prince Edward County). She’s been the touring lighting director for Ballet Jorgen Canada, as well as Magical Moments in Time (Ted Outerbridge).
Raha teaches violin, piano, and music theory, both privately and at institutions including the Regent Park School of Music, and Kingsway Conservatory. She has sat on juries for the Dora Awards, FACTOR, and the OAC’s Pauline McGibbon Award. She was co-recipient of the Siminovitch Protege Award, and is an active Arts Advocate and Ambassador for Music Canada. She has taught at Toronto Metropolitan University and Sheridan College. Raha teaches lighting design at Ryerson University.
