Ottawa Chamber Music Society

Since its inception in 1994, the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival (Chamberfest) has grown from 22 concerts to 117 events with 278 performers this year – making it the largest chamber music festival in the world. The Festival attracts the most sought-after international chamber music ensembles and is renowned for the quality and range of its programmme offerings.
Conceived by Ottawa cellist Julian Armour, the Festival now offers concerts for all musical tastes and ages in a variety of informal settings. Hosted by the Ottawa Chamber music Society, up to 10 concerts are presented daily, running from 10:00 am to midnight over a two-week period.
This year’s line-up includes the complete cycle of Ludwig van Beethoven’s string quartets played by four of the world’s finest chamber music ensembles, each from a very different cultural background: the Leipzig String Quartet (Germany); the Moscow String Quartet (Russia); the Shanghai Quartet (China); and, the St. Lawrence String Quartet (Canada).
The Festival also includes a six-concert series featuring Canadian pianists Angela Hewitt and Louis Lortie. Hewitt will launch Chamberfest ’07 in a recital with German cellist Daniel Müller-Schott. Lortie, who is also the Festival’s first artist-in-residence, will present four recitals: two with French violin virtuoso Augustin Dumay.
Masterclasses, workshops, discussion, dance, story-telling and film presentations are also integrated into this year’s Festival programme. As is Carleton University’s international symposium on the chamber music of Arnold Schoenberg.
Vocal music is another strong feature. James Bowman - arguably the leading countertenor of his generation - will be joined by soprano Nancy Argenta, tenor Charles Daniels, baritone Peter McGillivray, and countertenor Daniel Taylor in several concerts featuring masterworks of the baroque era. Taylor’s Theatre of Early Music includes a new work by choreographer James Kudelka — one of 12 premiere performances at this year’s Festival.
Tapestry, an outstanding four-woman vocal ensemble from Boston, and musica intima, a young and exciting 12-member ensemble from Vancouver, round out the vocal programme.
In keeping with the Festival’s tradition of expanding our understanding of chamber music to include other world cultures outside the European classical music tradition, Chamberfest ’07 will also present some of the finest interpreters of music from China, India, Indonesia and the Middle East.
- The Red Chamber Ensemble and Randy Raine-Reusch play traditional Chinese compositions (as well as new music), while the Shanghai Quartet play works by contemporary Chinese composers.
- Mrdrangam maestro Trichy Sankaran and Autorickshaw bring their classical Karnetic music from India as well as a contemporary fusion of western and South Asian musical styles.
- The Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan play compositions from West Java.
- Renowned Arabic virtuosos Simon Shaheen (oud), Jamey Haddad (percussion) and vocalist Maryem Tollar join with the Gryphon Trio in Crossings: A musical passage from West to East.
The East Village Opera Company is returning to the Festival to present their rock-inspired take on classic operatic arias in a free outdoor concert. The Festival also explores the frontier between classical chamber music and other musical styles such as tango nuevo (Norteño) and flamenco (El Viento Flamenco).
Event venues are equally eclectic. Most concerts are held in Ottawa’s heritage churches. Others are staged at outdoor plazas, under bridges, in museums, and even on the designated site for a proposed Community Concert Hall.
In keeping with the OCMS’s mandate to offer music that is both affordable and accessible, Festival tickets prices are subsidised. Many events are free. A Festival Passport ($90 for adults, $45 for student) provides admission to more than 95 concerts. Holders of Festival Passports or a 3-day Pass can buy Pass-Plus tickets to marquee concerts with international headline performers at a reduced rate of $20, instead of $40 without a Festival Passport.
Chamberfest is made possible by its 500+ volunteers, generous supporters and donors, government agencies and the musicians who come from all over the world to share their music.
The Ottawa Chamber Music Society is the only organization to win the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for the Arts seven times. In 2007, the Society won Ottawa Tourism’s Large Company of the Year Award, and was one of six finalists out of 190 nominees for the Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.