Constantinople is a musical ensemble that chose the journey—geographical certainly, but also historical, cultural and inner—as its cornerstone. It draws inspiration from all sources and aims for distant horizons. Inspired by the ancient city illuminating the East and West, Constantinople was founded in 2001 in Montreal by its artistic director, Kiya Tabassian.
Since its founding, the ensemble promotes the creation of new works incorporating musical elements of diverse musical traditions around the world, drawing from medieval manuscripts to a contemporary aesthetic, passing by Mediterranean Europe to Eastern traditions and New World Baroque. Underpinned by a spirit of research and creation, Constantinople has joined forces with leading international artists such as singers Marco Beasley, Françoise Atlan, Savina Yannatou and Suzie Le Blanc; the Mandingo griot Ablaye Cissoko; the Greek ensemble En Chordais, the Belgian duo Belem and the American group The Klezmatics; sarangi virtuoso Dhruba Ghosh, Syrian clarinetist and composer Kinan Azmeh, and Iranian kamancheh master Kayhan Kalhor.
Regularly invited to perform in international festivals and prestigious concert halls, such as the Salle Pleyel in Paris, the Berliner Philharmonie, the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music in Morocco, the Rencontres musicales de Conques in France, the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, the Cervantino Festival in Mexico, the Festival de Carthage in Tunisia, the Onassis Cultural Centre-Athens and the BOZAR in Brussels, Constantinople is acclaimed by the public, music professionals and critics alike. Constantinople has been awarded several times with prices such as Prix Opus (Canada) and Prix Charles Cros (France).
The ensemble has 23 albums to its credit on labels Analekta, Atma, World Village, Buda Musique, MaCase, Dreyer Gaido and Glossa. Several albums have been nominated for Juno, Folk Alliance and ADISQ prices. «Il ponte di Leonardo» was named Best Classical Album 2024 (Small Ensemble) at the Juno Awards, and Pilgrimage Best Classical Album 2025 at the Czech Angels Awards.
Over the past fifteen years, Constantinople has created over 63 works and travelled to more than 290 cities in 59 countries.
Rarely has passion been as intense as in these ‘Pas de Rûmî’. The melismatic, deep voice of Tunisian singer Ghalia Benali plays a large part in this... The contrast between her guttural intonations and Kiya Tabassian's softer, more rounded singing works wonders. The musicians' passion and refinement further enhance the mystical intoxication of these timeless love songs and laments.
-Télérama
Ultimately, this mixture cannot be pigeonholed: it is not early music, nor is it oriental music, and even the term world music falls short. (...) This music is simply very skilfully performed, with a great deal of enthusiasm, feeling, connoisseurship and expertise. Those who give it a chance can expect pure and unadulterated musical pleasure.
