Hailed as “the most important Hellenic-descent composer of his generation” (Jazz & Tzaz), commanding a “beyond the ordinary sense of musicality”, Constantine Caravassilis’ music is “constantly charged with emotion and energy in a profoundly individual style” (R.C.M.).

Born into a musical family in Toronto, he grew up in the culturally vibrant township of Pythagorion, Samos Island, Greece. He is the founder and past director of the chorus and traditional orchestra of the Multi-Branch Lyceum of Samos City (1995–1997), for which he wrote his first theatre score at age sixteen for a staging of Federico Garcia Lorca‘s Blood Wedding.

Constantine is laureate of the 4th International Composition Competition of the city of Volos, (supported by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Trinity College, London) with three gold medals in composition and prizewinner at the annual Mississauga Symphony Orchestra Young Composer’s Competition (2004). His piece Apanthroposis for solo flute and tape written for young flutist Luke Nickel, received the first prize in the Canadian Composers Category, at the 2006 Syrinx Flute Festival in Canada.

He has received countless commissions from soloists, ensembles and organizations the world around. Considered as one of the most prolific young composers in Canada, Constantine writes for all media and his output includes seven concerti, with a plethora of chamber, orchestral, vocal and electroacoustic works. His music has been performed in Germany, France, Denmark, the U.K. and Wales, Russia, Belarus, Sweden, Israel, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey and Japan as well as throughout Canada and the United States, in several well-known music centers, such as the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Smolensk Philharmonic Hall, the Bunka-Kainan Hall in Tokyo, Round Tower in Copenhagen, La Chappelle de Bon Pasteur in Montreal, the Markham Theatre for the Performing Arts in Ontario, Jordan Hall in Boston, New Theatre in Cardiff, the Bösendorfer Artist Salon in New York City and the Rosslyn Hill Chapel in London.

His compositions and arrangements have been recorded by Marquis (EMI Canada) and CBC and have been broadcast by WGBH Radio in the U.S., CBC Radio in Canada, BBC-3 in the U.K, and TDK radio in Japan.

Constantine has been composer-in-residence with the Contemporary Opera Lab (2005, Winnipeg, Canada), the Open Strings Festival (2006, Lolland, Denmark), the London Song Festival (2007, London, England) and currently is composer-in-residence with the Cantabile Chamber Singers (2008–2009, Toronto, Canada).

This past season, premieres of Constantine’s work included Sappho de Mytilene, a song cycle for mezzo soprano Ariana Chris as part of the In Recital series at Toronto’s intimate Helocinian Hall (recorded at the CBC Glenn Gould Studio for later release), the north American premiere of Rhaspody No. 2 – Visitations, by pianist Zhenya Yesmanovich as part of the University of Toronto’s New Music Festival, the world premiere of Father, Into Thy Hands I Commend my Spirit with the composer as countertenor, commissioned by Soundstreams Canada, and the world premiere of Message in a Bottle, a piece for string orchestra commissioned by the Canadian Contemporary Music Workshop (CCMW) for the 25th anniversary of the Canadian Composer ‘s Orchestra conducted by Gary Kulesha and presented as part of Toronto’s 2008 SoundAxis Festival.