Kiya Tabassian

Kiya Tabassian was born in 1976, in Tehran (Iran) and immigrated to Montreal in 1990. He has been trained in Persian music under Reza Ghasemi and Kayhan Kalhor. He studied musical composition at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal with Gilles Tremblay and Michel Gonneville.

In 1998, he co-founded Constantinople, a Montreal based ensemble which has earned an international reputation for its unique juxtaposition of early musical sources and the living traditions of the Middle East. He has recorded 16 CDs for several labels such as ATMA, Analekta, Buda Musique, World Village and MaCase and has created over 40 original programs with Constantinople, performing them at some of the most prestigious festivals and venues in the world. Over the past decade, he has staged over 800 concerts in 125 cities in 25 different countries.