Constantinople Continues To Build Bridges Between Eras And Cultures Through Music

Constantinople's 20th anniversary celebrations continue with two new concerts, in which Italy meets Istanbul and Spain meets Persia. This exploration of different musical forms from around the world will take place at Salle Bourgie, at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Under the artistic direction of Kiya Tabassian, Constantinople has created close to 50 new works, which have been presented in over 240 cities in 54 countries, resulting in 1,080 concerts, in addition to 19 recordings.

At this time, when we smell the pungent stench of conflict and war advancing upon humanity, it is more vital than ever to build and rebuild bridges between civilizations, cultures, and peoples. For 20 years, Constantinople has been passionately invested in building bridges between various musical forms and traditions, those of yesterday and today as well as those from here and from abroad. The upcoming concerts in our 20th season will follow this direction, encouraging our audiences to reflect on the importance of these kinds of dialogue through the various musical bridges that we erect. » - Kiya Tabassian, Artistic Director, Constantinople.

Il Ponte di Leonardo

Constantinople & Marco Beasley (Italy)

• Saturday, March 19, 2022, Bourgie Hall

Marco Beasley, a specialist in Renaissance music, joins forces with Constantinople to celebrate, in music, a bridge that Leonardo da Vinci designed in 1502. The longest and boldest bridge of the time, it was to span the Bosporus and thus link Europe and Asia. But it was never built; the plans, however, were preserved in the artist's archives. Five centuries later, Tabassian re-imagines this bridge with the help of 16th- and 17th-century works from the manuscript archives of the national libraries of Istanbul and Florence.

This work will also be presented in Calgary on March 10 and in Toronto on March 18.

From Castille to Samarkand

Constantinople & Accademia Del Piacere (Spain)

• Saturday, April 9, 2022, Bourgie Hall

The great masters of the Spanish Renaissance created a golden age of polyphony. Into what was essentially Franco-Flemish music of the time they wove influences left by the Moors and by the Muslim cultures so present in medieval Spain.

In collaboration with Fahmi Alqhai, one of the great virtuosos of the viola da gamba, and his Accademia del Piacere, the leading ensemble of early Spanish music, Constantinople embarks on a musical journey through Iberia, Persia, and Central Asia, revisiting music notable for its sumptuous colour and exceptionally rich beauty.

This work will also be presented in Seville (Spain) on March 26, in Vancouver on April 1, in Victoria on April 3, in Toronto on April 8, and in Quebec City on April 10.

Born in 1957, Marco Beasley completed his studies at the University of Bologna, deepening his knowledge of two stylistic pillars of the late Renaissance-recitar cantando, and sacred and secular polyphony. He went on to lead an active performance career which soon took him to prestigious venues, including the Mozarteum in Salzburg, di Santa Cecilia in Rome, and Lincoln Center in New York. In 1984, he co-founded the early music ensemble Accordion along with Guido Morini and Stefano Rocco. Most recordings in Marco Beasley's sizable and wide-ranging discography feature this ensemble, which he left in 2014 to pursue independent and more intimate projects. His performances, informed by personal research into vocal production and the intelligibility of sung texts, continue to draw praise from an ever-broader array of spectators.

Fahmi Alqhai is considered one of the most brilliant and outstanding gambists of our time and is recognized as one of the greatest performers of early music. In 2002, along with soprano Mariví Blasco, he founded the Accademia del Piacere. He is also cofounder, along with his brother Rami Alqhai, of the ALQHAI & ALQHAI record label. In addition to the many projects he has initiated, he has been invited, beginning at an early age, to collaborate with some of the most renowned international early music ensembles, such as Hesperion XXI (Jordi Daval) and Il Suonar Parlante (Vittorio Ghielmi). As a soloist, he has performed with the Spanish National Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Galicia, and the Baroque Orchestra of Seville, among others. He has also performed contemporary music as well as jazz, with artists such as Uri Caine. Since 2009, Fahmi Ahqai has been artistic director of the Early Music Festival of Seville (FeMAS), Spain's oldest and most prestigious early music festival.

Borrowing its name from the ancient city that once was a beacon of light between East and West, Constantinople was conceived as a space for musical fusions and exchanges by its artistic director Kiya Tabassian from the moment it was founded in Montreal in 2001. Since its inception, the ensemble has released 19 albums on labels such as Analekta, Atma, World Village, Buda Musique, Ma Case, Dreyer Gaido and Glossa. Over the past ten years, the ensemble has developed nearly 50 creations that have been presented in more than 240 cities across 54 countries.

More information

• Il Ponte di Leonardo, March 19th - 8 P.M.
• From Castille to Samarkand, April 9th - 8 P.M.
• Bourgie Hall, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
• Tickets: $44 for the general public, $38 for museum members, $23 for those 34 and under
• Tickets for Il Ponte di Leonardo
• Tickets for De Castille à Samarkand

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