2025 FESTIVAL | June 8–15, 2025
Constantinople with Hana Blažíková, soprano
Kiya Tabassian, setar, voice & director
Friday, June 13, 2025 at 5pm
Emmanuel Church, Boston, MA
Bach & Khayyam
Even if more than 600 years separate the lives of German composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) and Persian mathematician and poet Omar Khayyam (1048–1131), these two geniuses were made to meet each other. Both were masters in their respective worlds with commitments to both technical mastery and profound spirituality. Kiya Tabassian leads the Canadian-based ensemble Constantinople in their BEMF début as they bring these two men into a delightful dialogue where the sacred and the sublime transcend borders. Inspired by the ancient city linking the East and West, Constantinople was founded in 2001 and has won acclaim for recordings and performances across 57 different nations. They join with the beguiling soprano Hana Blažíková for a program of religious music by Bach contrasted with poems by Khayyam sung in Persian.
“This music is simply very well crafted, with a lot of pleasure, a lot of emotion, a lot of knowledge but also a lot of expertise. If you let yourself be taken in, you can expect pure, untainted musical pleasure.”
ARTISTS
Didem Basar, kanun; Neva Özgen, kemenche; Tineke Steenbrink, organ; Johanna Rose, viola da gamba; Tanya LaPerrière, Baroque violin & viola d’amore; Michel Angers, theorbo; Patrick Graham, percussion