For immediate
release
Where
is the largest chamber music festival in the world?
“With
a line-up that would do Vienna or New York City
proud, the world's largest chamber festival featured
concerts in area churches by more than 250 musicians
... There were national broadcasts of concerts by
CBC Radio and Radio-Canada, coverage in national
newspapers and reports on national television news.”
– Steven Mazey, The Ottawa
Citizen
Ottawa (Tuesday, June 20, 2006) –
Ottawa may be Canada’s seat of government but
it’s not all political. The largest chamber music
festival in the world takes place in the nation’s
capital each summer. This year the
13th Ottawa
International Chamber Music Festival
from July 22 – August 5, presented by the Ottawa
Chamber Music Society, is delighted to offer
120 concerts with more than 250 musicians. The
Society is the only cultural organization to have
won an unprecedented seven Lieutenant Governor’s Award for the Arts.
"In Toronto, the cultured classes line
up for film; in Montreal, jazz is the big thing. But
in Ottawa, the queues are for chamber
music." – Globe and Mail
Last year just over 62,000
attended the Festival with music lovers expressing
energetic passion from the line-ups to the thunderous
stomping, cheering and applause that reverberates
throughout the venue. What makes music devotees
stand two or more hours in line-ups as long as two
to three city blocks? The Festival
showcases cutting-edge, innovative programming
that ranges from Classical, Baroque, Renaissance,
traditional folk to new music. Concerts are performed
in beautiful heritage churches in downtown Ottawa creating the ideal acoustical
experience.
“This is the Super Bowl of
gigs for classically trained musicians.”
– Denis Armstrong, The Ottawa Sun.
Many
of the world’s greatest musicians have appeared
at the Festival including the Borodin, Guarneri,
Hagen,
Tokyo,
Julliard, Emerson and St. Lawrence string quartets,
Beaux Arts and Gryphon trios, Emma Kirkby, Ida Haendel,
Gil Shaham and Louis Lortie, to name just a few.
For more information
please contact:
Suzan
Zilahi, Communications Director
13th
OTTAWA
INTERNATIONAL CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL
July 22-August
5, 2006 / 120 concerts
♫ FACT SHEET ♫
♪
The world's
largest chamber music festival features an enormous
variety of concerts, presented in an informal setting
in some of downtown Ottawa's
most beautiful heritage churches.
♪
From the
very beginning in 1994, the Festival was an immediate
hit, drawing 12,000 listeners to 22 concerts and
rave reviews.
♪
In 2003, the Ottawa International
Chamber Music Festival celebrated its 10th
anniversary with 110 concerts and attracted an audience
of over 60,000.
♪
The 2005
Festival was the biggest to date, with 120 concerts
that attracted over 62,000 listeners.
♪
Artistic
Director and cellist Julian
Armour first
conceived the idea in 1993 in response to the meagre
accessibility during summer months to live classical
music in Ottawa.
♪
Following
the success of the first Festival, the Ottawa Chamber
Music Society was incorporated as a not-for-profit,
charitable organization.
♪
The pass
system allows Festival-goers to attend several (20
or more) world-class concerts with the purchase
of a single pass, $80 for adults and $40 for students.
♪
To attend
Pass-plus concerts patrons pay $20 for each concert
in addition to the Festival pass.
♪
Partnerships,
grants, foundations, merchandising revenue and donations
help keep pass prices low.
♪
It would
be impossible to mount a festival of this magnitude
without the help and support of hundreds of loyal
volunteers.
♪
Recognized
as one of Canada’s most important cultural events,
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 Canadian Brass; the Borodin,
Guarneri, 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.
♪
Without
making any artistic compromises, the Festival has
consistently drawn capacity audiences.
♪
People
often line up two hours or more before a concert
and the line is often two city blocks long.
♪
Concerts
run throughout the day, some evenings as many as
five 8:00 p.m. concerts are performed at the concerts are broadcast nationally
by CBC Radio than by any other arts organization
to a total same time at different venues–
if one concert is sold out then volunteers direct
people to other concerts nearby.
♪
More
of their concerts are broadcast nationally by CBC
Radio than by any other arts organization to
a total radio audience of over 20 million.
♪
The
Society’s major event, the Ottawa International
Chamber Music Festival, has become the largest
chamber music festival in the world and is now recognized
as one of Canada’s most important cultural events. The Society
is the only cultural organization to win the Lieutenant
Governor’s Award for the Arts seven times. In
2005, over 62000 people attended the Festival.
