Constantinople is a Montreal-based ensemble founded in 2001 by Iranian-Canadian setar player and composer Kiya Tabassian. The group builds a creative dialogue between medieval and Renaissance European music and Persian, Ottoman and Arab traditions, and over two decades has toured more than 290 cities in 57 countries with over 60 original productions. In 2024 it won the Juno Award for Best Classical Album (Il Ponte di Leonardo), and in 2025 the Czech Anděl Award for Pilgrimage, recorded with Cappella Mariana.
The ensemble Constantinople won the Czech Anděl 2024 award in the classical music category for the album Pilgrimage recorded in collaboration with Cappella Mariana.
Constantinople won the Juno 2024 awards in the best classical album (small ensemble) category with the recording Il Ponte di Leonardo.
The ensemble performed in Vancouver with the Estuary project in collaboration with griot and kora player Ablaye Cissoko.
In June 2026 Constantinople performs in Potsdam with the program Cantemir, The Composer Prince.
In July 2026 the ensemble will present in St. Gallen the program Khayyam & Oum Kalthoum - a reinterpretation of Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat with Belgian-Tunisian singer Ghaliou Benali.
