Imagine the warm climes of the Mediterranean transplanted to the not-quite-so-warm climes of Canada.
Christos Hatzis was born in Greece and settled in Canada where he teaches composition at the University of Toronto. Hatzis took the opportunity to delve deeply into his Byzantine roots with a massive work for multi-media, middle-eastern singer, and piano trio called Constantinople.
It’s been described as ‘staggeringly beautiful’ and ‘possibly the most talked about classical composition in Toronto’s history’.
One of the more intimate movements from that work is called 'Old Photographs', a nostalgic musical picture that evokes the delicate piano of Chopin, the wild tangos of Astor Piazzolla, all with a modern twist.
