Kiya Tabassian

Kiya Tabassian is a setar player and composer, and the artistic director of the ensemble Constantinople. Born in Tehran in 1976, he learned the setar, a Persian long-necked lute, as a child and moved with his family to Montreal at fourteen. He went on to study composition at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal while continuing to deepen Persian music through encounters with masters such as Kayhan Kalhor.

Between Persia and the medieval Mediterranean

Tabassian’s work links the Persian tradition with the medieval and Renaissance heritage of Europe and the music of the Mediterranean and the Middle East. His own description frames this through the migrant’s experience and the idea of being a “carrier of memory”. Constantinople, which he leads, has built a repertoire around these crossings, and he has recorded with singers and instrumentalists from many traditions, among them Marco Beasley, Ghalia Benali, Ablaye Cissoko and Françoise Atlan. His discography runs to around thirty recordings, on labels including Atma Classique, Analekta and Glossa.

For sync and licensing

This is largely instrumental, chamber-scale music built around plucked strings, voices and percussion. The setar’s soft, intimate timbre and the modal writing give the music a contemplative, timeless atmosphere. It would suit images that call for memory, travel, sacred or historical settings, documentary and period drama. Tabassian has already written for the screen: he composed the music for the documentaries Jabaroot and Voices of the Unheard, and sang on the soundtrack of the video game Assassin’s Creed: Origins (2016).

Composition and commissions

Beyond Constantinople, Tabassian writes for symphonic and contemporary ensembles, including the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne. In 2020 he co-created Le temps des forêts, a musical and poetic suite with the poet Hélène Dorion, built on the life stories of residents of Montreal long-term care homes. He also co-founded the Centre des musiciens du monde in Montreal in 2017.