BIOGRAPHY
Driven by beauty and spirituality; inspired by literature, nature, the music of the spheres and imagined workings of the cosmos; reflecting a deep humanitarianism and modern findings on the faculties of the human brain, Constantine Caravassilis’ work is yet intimately connected to his Hellenic roots.
Caravassilis draws inspiration from the prodigious past and supreme wisdom of his ancestors, as he reflects on Greek mythology and epic themes and on Byzantine chant and the times it reflects. And yet, he often finds himself re-imagining Eastern modality and the folk songs of the Aegean as sung to him by his grandmothers.
Born to a musical family in Toronto, Canada, he was raised in Pythagorion, a culturally rich town on the Greek Island of Samos, off the coast of Asia Minor—the birthplace of the mathematician Pythagoras and philosopher Epicurus. While studying Western music, his influences prominently included a playground atop marble mosaics; ruins from Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Roman times; the proximity of ancient engineering wonders such as the Eupalinian aqueduct, the “Eighth Wonder of the Ancient World” (6th century BC); the protective castle walls of the tyrant Polycrates; and the scents, icons, and vestments of the nearby orthodox churches and monasteries, not to omit the taste of sweet Muscat wine.
Since his mid-twenties, Constantine has been a fresh and forceful compositional voice, with international exposure through hundreds of performances and broadcasts in such venues as Carnegie Hall (New York), Jordan Hall (Boston), Southam Hall (Ottawa), Bunka-Kaikan Hall (Tokyo), AlteOper (Frankfurt), the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Rundetårn (Round Tower) in Copenhagen, the Smolensk Philharmonic Hall in Russia, the Besední dům in Czechia, the Mustpeade maja (House of the Blackheads) in Estonia, the Athens and Thessaloniki Concert Halls (Megara), the DiMenna Centre for Classical Music in Manhattan, the Palácio Foz (Lisbon), and the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, to name the more prominent. In 2006, his work Baroque Revisited—incidental music written for a documentary on J. S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations—was toured in more than 40 American states. His music has been performed in more than thirty countries, including Canada, the United States, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Great Britain, Wales, Spain, Portugal, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Croatia, Poland, Czechia, Italy, Romania, Austria, Belarus, Estonia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Russia, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Israel, Hong Kong, and Japan.
Constantine’s music has been premiered, recorded, and received repeat performances—often with the composer conducting—by a rapidly expanding list of internationally known chamber and orchestral ensembles including the Brno Philharmonic in Czechia, the Roma Tre Orchestra in Italy, the Ocfamus Orchestra in Monterrey, Mexico, the Athens (Friends of Music) Camerata Orchestra, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and the Winnipeg Symphony Chamber Players in Manitoba, L'Orchestre Prométhée in Paris, the Tallinna Kammerorkester in Estonia, the Lions Gate Orchestra in Vancouver, the Tenth Muse Ensemble in New York, the Concert:Nova ensemble in Cincinnati, the Toronto Concert Orchestra, the Penderecki (Canada), Caravassilis (France) and Cromano (Mexico) String Quartets, the University of Toronto New Music Ensemble, Opera Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra, the University of Manitoba New Music Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, and Opera Ensemble, the Canadian Composers’ Orchestra, L'orchestre de la Francophonie in Ottawa, the Out of This World Orchestra and Opera 5 (Toronto), the Thirteen Strings of Ottawa, and the Orchestra of the National Ballet of Canada.
Jazz & Tzaz music magazine hails him “the most important Hellenic-descent composer of his generation,” the Toronto Star calls his music “timeless,” while Ludwig van Toronto states that Caravassilis writes “music that earns our attention rather than requiring it.” Barzablog calls his music “visionary”; Jon Gonder of the CALM Review comments on Caravassilis’ solo piano works: “These are not the rhapsodies of Brahms or Bartok. Caravassilis’ approach to form is actually more rhapsodic in spirit than either of those masters.” Trillonquy claims that his music is “visually pleasing; no one dares move, incredible!” while Jason Victor Sernius of Stereophile Magazine states (in his review of Caravassilis’ guitar concerto): “I can’t get enough of Saudade’s mysterious, wistful beauty, with iridescent touches punctuated by deep bass and fascinating percussion.”
A graduate of the reputed composition program of the University of Toronto, where he studied on a full fellowship, Constantine holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the same institution with top-tier training in composition, conducting and piano performance by some of Canada’s most celebrated performing artists and pedagogues.
He has been awarded several top honours, including the Karen Kieser Prize in Canadian Music, the Harry Freedman Recording Award, the Epikouros Arts and Letters Award, and three gold medals at the Volos International Composition Competition for his “profoundly mature style and highly individual compositional voice.” In addition to several academic scholarships, Constantine has received numerous commissioning, travel, career development, and recording grants from the Toronto, Ontario, and Canada Arts Councils, the British Arts Council, the Winnipeg Arts Council, Hereford Arts (NYC) and V3 Ministries (Florida).
synaesthesia
Constantine is a synaesthete —one experiencing an impression to one sense or part of the body via another sense or part of the body, e.g., one experiencing music through color or seeing images through sound (Greek syn ‘with, together’ + aisthanomai ‘perceive’). His works, reflecting these perceptions, are regarded by both critics and audiences as contemporary masterpieces. He has presented talks and given lectures on the subject at a number of institutions, including Nuevo Leon University; the American Synaesthesia Association; the Universities of Calgary, Toronto, York and Manitoba; OCAD University; the Ontario Art Gallery; the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University, Houston and the University of Tampa in Florida.
