Kiya Tabassian

Kiya Tabassian was born in Tehran, Iran, immigrating to Quebec with his family in 1990. When he was 14, he readily agreed to his family’s suggestion that he focus exclusively on his music. He had already had some years of training in classical Persian music and had begun a career in the Iranian musical scene. Most importantly, he had decided he wanted to be not just a musician but a creator of music. He chose Montreal as the place where he would live, serve his apprenticeship, and realise his dreams.
While continuing his training in Persian music under master teachers Reza Ghasemi in Paris and Keyhan Kalhor in Montreal, as mostly as on his own, he studied violin and musical composition at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal. Increasingly interested in new music, he became involved in the contemporary music scene as well as in new improvised music.
All the while he was seeking to redefine the act of creation in a variety of musical languages and to develop a language all his own for himself and his instrument, the setar.
In 1998 he co-founded Constantinople, (www.constantinople.ca) an ensemble based on the European and Middle Eastern musical traditions of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. With seven CDs on the ATMA Classique label, Constantinople was quickly recognized for its excellence by the public, by its peers in the music world, and by Canadian and international critics.
Since 1996, Kiya Tabassian has worked on several Radio-Canada concerts as well as in Canada, in Europe, and in Mexico with Constantinople and with other musicians. Last two years, Kiya has being performing in France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Mexico and Lebanon.
In 2000, he developed the musical project Pourrières d’étoiles which he then toured the island of Montreal. With his brother Ziya he recorded a first CD of classical Persian music entitled Jardin de la mémoire (The Garden of Memory) on the XXI music label. In 2002 he released the music for the documentary Jabaroot, directed by Shahin Parhami.
From 2002 to 2005, he was involved in the international MediMuses research project on the history of Mediterranean music land in several publishing and recording projects.
Since 2005, he is a member of the Conseil des Arts de Montreal. He is also the recipient of several grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des Arts et des lettres du Québec for his work in musical research and creation.
Kiya Tabassian est né à Téhéran, en Iran, en 1976. à 14 ans, en compagnie de sa famille, il immigre au Québec. Kiya accepte la proposition familiale de tout quitter à condition de pouvoir continuer sa musique. Condition acceptée! Il apporte alors avec lui dans ses bagages quelques années de formation en musique savante persane, un début de carrière sur la scène musicale iranienne et, surtout, la détermination de devenir non seulement un musicien, mais aussi un créateur. C'est à Montréal qu'il décide de ''faire sa vie'', de poursuivre ses apprentissages et de réaliser ses rêves.
En plus de poursuivre sa formation en musique persane, principalement en autodidacte, mais aussi auprès de Reza Gassemi et Kayhan Kalhor à Paris et à Montréal, il étudie la composition musicale au Conservatoire de musique de Montréal avec Gilles Tremblay.
En 1998, Kiya cofonde Constantinople, un ensemble de création musicale dont la musique est basée sur l'héritage musical du Moyen âge et de la Renaissance de l'Europe de la Méditerranée et du Moyen-Orient. Constantinople a lancé jusqu'à présent plusieurs disques sous étiquette ATMA. Il s'est très vite fait remarquer pour son excellence par le public, le milieu et les critiques canadienne et internationale.
Depuis 1996, Kiya collabore à plusieurs reprises avec la Société Radio-Canada en présentant de nombreux concerts. Il s'est produit au Canada, dans plusieurs pays d'Europe, au Moyen-Orient et au Mexique, avec Constantinople et aussi avec d'autres musiciens. De 2002 à 2005, Kiya participe activement au projet international MediMuses comme membre du groupe de recherche sur l'histoire la musique de la Méditerranée et en collaborant à plusieurs projets d'édition et de disque.
Kiya a également obtenu plusieurs bourses du Conseil des arts du Canada et du Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec pour ses projets de recherche et de création. Depuis septembre 2005, il est membre du Conseil des Arts de Montréal.