Click here for the latest review from the Calgary Herald, January 12, 2008

The following was originally published in the 2007-2008 issue of ArtsNet, Yukon’s Arts and Culture Magazine:

EAST MEETS WEST MEETS NORTH
A stunning collaboration brings Constantinople to Whitehorse
by Elaine Schiman

When I began to write this article, it was mid-March 2007, all of Whitehorse was in a post-Canada-Winter-Games funk, and there was at least four feet of snow covering everything in town. Everything, that is, except the portion of roof just above my tiny home office. That heap of snow had melted into rain, you see, succumbing to the torrent of hot middle-eastern music emanating from my computer … streaming (or should I say steaming) audio excerpts from Constantinople, a multi-media performance which fuses music from East and West, and creates something entirely unique in the process. I can only hope the Yukon Arts Centre is prepared for a similarly non-seasonal melt when Constantinople is performed there in January, one of our coldest darkest months.

All hyperbole aside, this show promises to be quite unlike anything staged in Whitehorse before. Reviews of previous performances elsewhere in Canada and the United States have described Constantinople as ground-breaking, stunning and extraordinary. The 85-minute multimedia piece is performed live by the Gryphon Trio, composed of violinist Annalee Patipatanakoon, pianist Jamie Parker and cellist Roman Borys, and two guest vocalists, Maryem Hassan Tollar and Patricia O’Callaghan, but the musicians onstage are only a portion of what the audience experiences. Orchestral and choral layers are incorporated through the use of surround-sound technology. The “virtual” performers include a Greek folk singer (who is also a restaurant owner in Toronto) and the English Chamber Choir. If this isn’t enough to captivate any audience, there are also theatrical and visual elements. Award-winning designer and media artist Jacques Collin has created a mosaic of images projected on fabric screens, offering glimpses of old and new Constantinople, panoramic views and religious symbols. The singers wear striking and evocative costumes – a rich golden cape, a twisted headscarf, a flowing white gown. Movement and dramatic gestures have been choreographed for both the vocalists. Even the Gryphon Trio doesn’t sit still. Instead, the three musicians travel around the stage when not playing their instruments.

“This show is a dream… it has everything,” says Michele Emslie, the Program Coordinator for Whitehorse Concerts, a co-presenter of the event. “I’m certain our Yukon audience will love it, because it’s so all-encompassing and is such a feast for the senses.”

Emslie’s excitement is shared by Eric Epstein, the Artistic Director of the Yukon Arts Centre, co-presenter with Whitehorse Concerts. “Constantinople is a world-class piece, which has just recently had its European premiere. This show has a visual and musical splendour that will conjure up a magical evening, both exotic and sensual. I think our audience will embrace it and I’m expecting a sell-out, or close to it.”

Constantinople is technically complex and requires a two-day set-up period. As a result, it has toured to a limited set of posh venues, including the Royal Opera House in London, England, the Luminato Festival in Toronto and Le Festival Montréal En Lumière. Both Emslie and Epstein agree that one of the reasons it is possible to stage Constantinople in Whitehorse is the dedicated and talented team of technical staff and volunteers. “They know their stuff, and they come out for the love of it,” says Emslie.

The Gryphon Trio has been to Whitehorse several times before with more traditional offerings of chamber music. This piece will be very different. The process began a decade ago, when Borys contacted Greek-born composer Christos Hatzis, now based in Toronto. The trio wanted a work that would push the boundaries of chamber music in many directions.

“Christos and I were both very interested in involving other elements in addition to the music,” says Borys. “At the start, we didn’t really know what we were creating. It took shape over time and the result is unlike anything else we’ve done. Our trio represents classical music, yet this is approachable, passionate and edgy. It has all sorts of contemporary pop music references.”

Hatzis is known for compositions that defy musical boundaries. “I see music as a broad continuum,” says Hatzis. “I don’t believe in differentiating into genres. I follow the compositional thread of the musical idea and go where it takes me. I don’t stop because it sounds like jazz.”

The music Hatzis created for Constantinople is a meld of past and present, East and West, high tech and traditional, sacred and secular. It includes among other things Greek and Serbian Orthodox chant, Sufi song, Turkish dance music and tango. In various places, the music morphs (a word the composer himself uses) into jazz, 1960s pop and the blues.

This eclectic approach was appealing to the trio. “One of our concerns as a classical trio is to create music that’s relevant to contemporary audiences,” says Borys. “Classical music is not the flavour of the day that it once was. By working with artists in other fields, we’re creating opportunities to reach new audiences. Once Christos had created the concept and the music, it was revealed to the other collaborators. They then introduced a number of other ideas which Christos couldn’t possibly have imagined. We all came from very different backgrounds and we had to work hard to create a common understanding of what the piece would be.”

That process of coming together was in itself symbolic of what Constantinople is all about. The ancient city of Constantinople was a cultural cross-roads, set in the great divide between the Christian and Islamic worlds. In an essay published on the Internet, Hatzis describes Constantinople as a metaphor, a place where East and West converged and coexisted for centuries, “a testing ground for possible solutions to seemingly insurmountable problems.”

What an apt metaphor for a world wracked with conflicts fed by religious and cultural intolerance. This piece was written before September 11, 2001, but not before so many other wars. “For me, the piece is not about Islam and Christianity, but it uses them as an example of religious conflict, so that anyone can relate to it,” says Hatzis. “Spirituality is a common human heritage. Once you strip away the differences that are evident on the surface, underneath it is possible to find unity.”

With a piece as daring and complex as Constantinople, I couldn’t help but wonder about the response. Do people love it, hate it, rant in the lobby? “We’ve had every opinion under the sun,” says Hatzis. But even in those diverse views, Hatzis finds this common theme – everyone is moved by the piece, somehow. “No one walks out of it indifferent. Some are elated, some are provoked to think, and some are furious about the mixing of musical genres.” But, Hatzis reassures us, no one has ever said it was boring.

Not a bad recommendation. And not a bad birthday gift either. Whitehorse Concerts marks its 25th anniversary with this season, and Constantinople is a fine way to celebrate.

ABOUT CONSTANTINOPLE

A land on the cusp of the great divide between East and West, the Christian world on the one hand and the Islamic world on the other, Constantinople was known as the Queen of Cities. An enchanting cultural crossroads, one of Europe's most diverse urban centres was often challenged by divisions of political ideologies and clashes between schools of faith.

Christos Hatzis' Constantinople embraces the spirit of this medieval capital while offering expressions of cultural convergence from a contemporary Canadian perspective. Immersed in a blend of passionate music and spectacular projected visuals, audiences emerge from Constantinople having seen the music that they've heard. An integration of visual art with instrumental and vocal music performance, Constantinople enchants audiences of all ages and backgrounds. This layered and emotional production clearly and hopefully welcomes differences and honours the essence that is common to us all.

Conceived by Canadian composer Christos Hatzis, Constantinople features the Gryphon Trio (violin, cello and piano) and singers Maryem Hassan Tollar and Patricia O'Callaghan. Constantinople's stage, lighting and projected visuals were created by a team of leading Canadian theatre artists.

The Gryphon Trio's multidisciplinary presentation of Constantinople comes as a reminder of what can be beautiful in our complex, often divergent modern existence. A socially relevant project, Constantinople resonates with deep human interests. 85 minutes in length, this is a work that engages the imagination, unleashes searing emotions and takes audiences to a place of hard won, but honest, optimism.

Constantinople: The Journey

Constantinople's 85 minute, 8 part journey begins with contrasting pronouncements of belief and ends with a utopian sense of unity. Movements entitled Creeds, Kyrie, Ah Kalleli, On Death and Dying, and Alleluia feature the Gryphon Trio with one or both singers as well as choral and orchestral textures embedded in a powerful surround-sound electronic musical and visual experience. Virtuosic, reflective and intimate, the movements Odd World, Dance of the Dictators, and Old Photographs highlight the artistry and chemistry of the Gryphon Trio.

Premiered at the 2004 Banff Summer Arts Festival, Constantinople has since completed a sold-out run in Toronto in November 2004 and opened the 2005 International Festival of Arts and Ideas in New Haven, Connecticut. Future engagements include performances at the Festival Montréal en Lumière in February 2007 and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in March 2007 (European premiere). Constantinople is produced by the Gryphon Trio in partnership with The Banff Centre, Tapestry New Opera Works and Music Toronto, with production assistance from Robert Lepage's Ex Machina.

For more information and touring dates, please contact Charles Letourneau,
IMG Artists, 212-994-3524, cletourneau@imgartists.com