Beginning in 1985, Labaree collaborated with the instrument-maker Feridun Özgören to create a contemporary version of the Ottoman microtonal harp, çeng, (no longer played in Turkey) for use in three centuries of Turkish classical, folk, and religious music. He is co-founder and vice president of DÜNYA (the World), a Turkish music ensemble and non-profit educational institution founded in 2004 in Boston that produces intercultural educational projects, including concerts and recordings exploring the shared traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

His most recent recordings, produced under the DÜNYA label, include Gel Gör Beni Aşk Neyledi (Come see what love has done to me), and The Psalms of Ali Ufki, Kuş Dili (The Language of Birds), Lale ve Kılıç (The Tulip and The Sword), and Dünya Size Güller Bize (For you the world, for us the roses). In the summer of 2010, the DÜNYA ensemble brought 32 musicians to Istanbul for a concert as part of the year-long celebration of Istanbul as a 2010 European Capital of Culture, a project of the European Union. A double CD of that program, entitled Constantinople-Istanbul: A Story of the City, with booklet in Turkish, English, and Greek), was recorded in Boston and produced in Istanbul.