Kiya Tabassian

Born in Tehran in 1976, he received his initial training in Persian music from M. Torabi at the Baharlou Institute in Tehran, R. Ghassemi in Paris, and K. Kalhor in Montreal. He then continued his musical journey independently. He studied musical composition at the Montreal Conservatory of Music with Gilles Tremblay and Michel Gonneville.
In 1989, he founded the Tahmassebi Ensemble, which he directed and for which he composed numerous works. With this ensemble, he gave many concerts throughout Iran and on national radio and television, winning several awards. Upon arriving in Canada in 1990, he co-founded the Darvich-Khan Trio, an ensemble dedicated to Persian classical music. He is also a co-founder of the ensembles Constantinople (Medieval and Renaissance Music) and Nowrouz (Persian Classical Music), with which he has presented several concerts in Canada. He has collaborated on several occasions with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), presenting concerts and producing radio programs. In the winter/spring of 2000, he was composer-in-residence at Musique Multi-Montréal for the project “Poussières d’étoiles” (Stardust). He recorded his first album, a duo album with his brother Ziya Tabassian entitled “Jardin de la mémoire” (Garden of Memory), under the XXI-21 label. He is a member of the Conseil Québécois de la Musique (Quebec Music Council). He has received several grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (Quebec Arts and Letters Council). Kiya has frequently been invited to give lectures and presentations on Persian music.