Ottawa Chamber Music Society

Mandate

Since 1994, the Ottawa Chamber Music Society (OCMS) has become one of the world's leading international presenters impacting the world of music, the arts and culture. The OCMS is a not-for-profit organization with charitable status, dedicated to presenting chamber music of the highest possible artistic standard.

Our mandate is to make classical music accessible to everyone. Young People's programming during the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, Family Music Fair (a one-day free event) and radio broadcasts allows us to introduce new listeners to chamber music. CBC Radio frequently broadcasts our concerts nationally to a total radio audience of over 30 million. Our 2004 Easter concert, The Seven Last Words of Christ, was broadcast around the world to billions of viewers.

Many of the best chamber music ensembles from around the world have performed at Ottawa Chamber Music Society concerts, including the Beaux Arts Trio; the Schubert Ensemble of London; the Canadian Brass; the Borodin, Tokyo, Hagen, Juilliard, Emerson, Kronos, Kodály, Keller, Allegri and St. Lawrence string quartets; the legendary contralto, Maureen Forrester; the famed vocal group King's Singers; pianists Garrick Ohlsson, Angela Hewitt, Stephen Hough, Jon Kimura Parker, Louis Lortie and Jeno Jando; violinists Gil Shaham, Cho-Liang Lin, Anne Akiko Meyers, Andrew Dawes; and cellists Janos Starker and Steven Isserlis.

Each summer, thousands of music lovers travel from across Canada and around the world to attend the largest chamber music festival in the world and one of the country’s most important cultural events. Concerts are presented in acoustically perfect heritage churches. Over 250 of the top chamber musicians from Canada and the international scene will perform.

Our major activities include:

Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival
OCMS Concert Series
Family Music Fair
CD recordings (CMS Classics, Atma, CBC)
The Concert Hall