On May 23, 1403, Clavijo and his companions set sail from the port of Càdiz, headed for the city of Samarkand, the capital of Asia. Henry III had given a mission to his ambassador, the noble, courteous, and eloquent Clavijo... Constantinople has taken this celebrated route, therefore, and transformed it into a sort of musical peregrination. Using musical and historical sources from the regions visited by Clavijo, dating from the period of his travels, the ensemble has attempted to revisit his journey in its own way, through music.

Since its inception in 1998, Constantinople has endeavoured to find a unique mode of expression and a new, creative approach to the interpretation of the music of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Winners of the “Discovery of the Year” Award from Opus Gala in 2003, Constantinople have been the Ensemble in residence at Radio-Canada for the 2004-2005 season.