Constantinople to Open 2020-21 Season With LE TEMPS DES FORETS
The work, co-signed by composer and musical director Kiya Tabassian, and writer Hélène Dorion will open on November 2nd.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Oct. 19, 2020
Constantinople will open its 2020-21 season on November 2nd with the digital broadcast of a work co-signed by composer and musical director Kiya Tabassian, and writer Hélène Dorion.
Le Temps des forêts is a poignant tribute to seniors living in Montreal's long-term care facilities (CHSLDs), which sets the richness of their memories to poetry and music. This work was initiated by the Société pour les arts en milieu de santé (SAMS), and written following several meetings, which took place from 2016 to 2019, between the "gatherers of memories", Kiya Tabassian and Suzie LeBlanc, and the residents of several CHSLDs. Inspired by the fascinating stories of their lives and their experiences, this work immortalizes in its own unique way the memories the seniors generously shared with the artists.
"Le Temps des forêts has been, for me, a unique and singular experience of creation. Of course, it is as if my voice is being heard through my text, but it is especially about the stories of our elders, a voice given to all of those who accompanied me in the creative process of this work." - Hélène Dorion
This work of art reasons in a strong and singular way with today's topical news about our long-term care facilities. The words wisely spoken by our elders are as precious as they are often forgotten, and Le Temps des forêts gives them their due importance.
Kiya Tabassian remembers: "They were simple encounters, but so touching and inspiring. We would play and sing for those who immediately opened the windows wide on the gardens of their memories and shared with us the stories, joys and also misfortunes that have marked their lives. I felt like I was witnessing the history of an entire society at every moment. As their testimonies progressed, there was a world of sounds that settled in my imagination and that was transformed, in fusion with the sublime texts of Hélène, in Le Temps des forêts.''
About Hélène Dorion
Hélène Dorion is a Quebec writer whose first book was published in 1983. She has published more than thirty works including poetry, novels, narratives, essays and youth albums. In 2019, she was awarded the Athanase-David Prize for her overall literary achievements. Her books are now published in over 15 countries and have earned her prestigious awards such as the Governor General's Literary Award, the Anne-Hébert Award, the Senghor Prize and the Mallarmé Prize.
About Kiya Tabassian
Kiya Tabassian, acclaimed setar virtuoso and composer, has performed on stages around the world. He has collaborated as a composer, performer and improviser with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the MediMuses international project, the Atlas Ensemble (Holland), the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne and the European Broadcasting Union. Since 2017, he has been an associate artist of the prestigious festival Rencontres musicales de Conques (France). He co-founded the Centre des musiciens du monde in Montréal in 2017 and is the Artistic Director of this project.
About Constantinople
Constantinople, founded in 1998 in Montreal, is a musical ensemble, that has chosen to make traveling its cornerstone - geographical, historical, cultural, interior - to learn from all sources and to aim for distant horizons. Inspired by the ancient city illuminating the East and West, the ensemble was imagined, by its artistic director Kiya Tabassian. Regularly hosted in concert halls and festivals among the most prestigious in the world such as the Salle Pleyel in Paris, the Berliner Philharmonie, the Fes Festival of Sacred Music in Morocco, the Cervantino Festival in Mexico, the Onassis Cultural Centre in Athens and the BOZAR in Brussels, Constantinople is appreciated and recognized by the public as well as professionals and critics. The ensemble has produced 19 records and over the past fifteen years, has created 50 works and travelled to more than 170 cities across 40 countries.
Constantinople's very first concert of the 2020-21 season also marks the recent release of the its 19th album! In La Porta d'Oriente, Constantinople, accompanied by tenor Marco Beasley, revisits the music of the Italian, Ottoman and Persian Renaissance, creating a bridge between European and Eastern cultures.
Le Temps des forêts
As of November 2nd 2020, online.
Tickets at $10 for a 72-hour access to the recording, or at $20 for a purchase with an option to download the concert in high quality.
The concert was to originally take place at the end of October, in front of an audience that the ensemble was looking forward to meeting, but this event unfortunately had to be cancelled due to the circumstances we are all too familiar with. Constantinople hopes that this digital broadcast will reach an even wider audience!
Didem Başar, kanun
Hélène Dorion, writer
Elinor Frey, Baroque cello
Patrick Graham, percussion
Tanya Laperrière, Baroque violin
Suzie Leblanc, soprano
Amijai Shalev, bandoneon
Kiya Tabassian, composition, setar and musical direction
A project developed in partnership with La Société pour les arts en milieu de santé (SAMS).
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