Due for release in March on PENTATONE, Dialogos brings together Holland Baroque and Constantinople in a cross-cultural musical dialogue inspired by the historic meeting of Saint Francis of Assisi and Sultan Malik al-Kamil, weaving Persian, Ottoman, and early Baroque traditions into new compositions that celebrate listening, mutual respect, and peace through sound.
“Our history is marked by crusades, wars, displays of power, and mistrust. We must never gloss over or omit that reality, for it shapes who we are now. The encounter on this album centres togetherness and the age-old desire for peace. Music is not an ornament or decoration. Music is the dialogue. Every note that sounds, every fusion of timbres and rhythms, embodies the coming together of two worlds. Ancient traditions meet and reach each other. The good remains, the new arrives, and in the new, shared freedom resounds: the music that arises here and now. It is not something that comes from conflict or the power of institutions, but the human capacity to listen and resonate together.
‘Dialogos’ aims to be not only a musical journey, but also an invitation into conversation: a contemporary echo of a centuries-old encounter.
Tineke Steenbrink on the first meeting: ‘In 2022, I met Kiya Tabassian and his ensemble Constantinople for the first time in the village of Schaffhausen in Switzerland. Invited to play in a programme based on Johann Sebastian Bach (1685- 1750) and Omar Khayyam (1048-1131), I was amazed by the softness and power of Kiya’s voice, and the blending of baroque instruments with the kanun and the setar. I was completely enthralled by how the colours of Constantinople’s instruments found their way into Bach’s works and how wonderfully Kiya’s compositions, based on texts by Khayyam, complemented Bach’s music. Two languages met, two musical worlds became perfectly united.’
Judith & Tineke Steenbrink
Holland Baroque
DIGITAL RELEASE DATE: 13 March 2026
PHYSICAL RELEASE DATE: March 2026
