For Yunah, music is a bridge between worlds, a medium through which different musical traditions and backgrounds can meet and find common ground. Her work focuses on creating concert programs that explore the dialogue between cultures, inviting listeners to experience music as a shared, universal language.
A Belgian cellist and creator, she has collaborated with dancers, visual artists, and theatre makers, including her sister, the painter Mitya Proost, in projects such as Habil Sayagi, an evening-piece combining Azerbaijani folk music, dance, and live visual art. Other highlights are the collaborations with choreographer Johnny Lloyd in his pieces Toybox for the Opera of Cologne, Bullshit no Bullshit and Other Tales from the Underground for which she also composed music. In Switzerland she was recently performing in FOYER, the first production of Foyer41, a transdisciplinary art collective based in Bern.
Yunah’s artistic journey is rooted in broad classical training at the conservatories of Antwerp, London, Maastricht, Zurich, and Bern, where she now lives and teaches cello at the Konsibern. Together with her colleague Javier Lopez, she also leads the Moving Strings orchestra, where young violin and cello students play by heart while moving to the music. Yunah performs in chamber music ensembles such as the Lavyn Ensemble, co-founded with violinist Melanie Grunew; in Duo Randülin with guitarist Francesco Mari; and in ad hoc constellations with, for example, cellist Santiago Bernal and pianist Thomas Eckhoudt. During her studies, she co-founded chamber groups such as the Ignis Quartet and the Dreiecks Quartet, which won prizes and distinctions by jury at several chamber music competitions. Yunah has performed at festivals including Brosella Folk and Jazz Festival Brussels, B-Classic Festival, Alte Amanti Festival, November Music, Alba Nova Festival, Babelut Festival, and Theaterfestival Best of the Fest in Eindhoven.
Growing up in a musical family where world music played a central role in daily life, she developed a love and sensitivity for ethnic music traditions from a very young age. This deep passion was rekindled in 2019, when she discovered her love for Persian music and began studying it more intensively. This research led her to study the Persian string instrument kamanche and to (co-)create projects in which Persian music interacts with Western instruments and forms. Educational initiatives such as Nowruz, a concert created for her students to explore Persian music, as well as ongoing collaborations with, for example, the band About That Magic Circle of Mostafa Taleb or The Book of Queens by Camille Bordet, explore how musical traditions from east and west can engage in dialogue and inspire new compositions. As for her solo work, she is currently working on Sama, a new project that interweaves Johann Sebastian Bach’s Six Cello Suites with improvised dances and intermezzi in Persian style.
At the heart of her work lies a deep interest in mysticism and poetry, for which she believes there is no better carrier than music. Through music, we can speak with every sound and every beat we carry within, coming together beautifully and harmoniously despite separations or differing backgrounds.
