INNERchamber Artistic Director Andrew Chung announced the lineup for the organization’s 16th Season, which kicks off on September 28. The six-concert season takes place at Factory163 in Stratford, Ontario, with delectable meals available as well as the music.
Two of the concerts will also be made available through Video On Demand (VOD), recorded by Mike Fisher of Stream Studio. The VOD stream will be available on the Wednesday following the live event.
“This is such an exciting time of year for us at INNERchamber! We have sprinkled the seeds of programming for the season, and while we wait and watch how these concert programs will grow and develop, we are finally ready to share these plans with you!” says INNERchamber Artistic Director Andrew Chung in a statement.
“We have so much to be grateful for, and I never take it for granted — we get to produce a thriving concert series created by and for our community with an enthusiastic audience that understands the importance of bringing people together to share our humanity and our music. We are looking forward to connecting the community through music once again in Season 16.”
Here’s a look at what’s in store.
INNERchamber’s 16th Season
Season Opener: Beyond Limits (September 28, 2025)
This concert pairs Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 59, No. 1, an expansive work from his middle period, with Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer’s String Quartet No. 11. It’s a showcase of the range of the string quartet.
Performers: INNERchamber String Quartet
From the Salons of Paris (November 30, 2025)
This concert takes its inspiration from the Parisian salons of the early 20th century, with music, storytelling, and songs. Singer and actor Derek Kwan (fresh off performing in Stratford’s musical theatre offerings this season) is the audience’s guide through the Salons of Paris, including Germaine Tailleferre’s String Quartet, Francis Poulenc’s La Dame de Monte Carlo, Oscar Wilde’s The Nightingale by Laura Burton and many more.
Performers: Derek Kwan; Anna Ronai, piano; INNERchamber String Quartet
Typeface: A Concert of Characters (February 1, 2026)
Typographer and design instructor Chris Moorehead, together with the INNERchamber Ensemble, takes the audience on a musical and dramatic search for that “perfect” character. The full program will be announced closer to the date.
Performers: Christopher Moorehead, narrator; INNERchamber Ensemble: Andrew Chung, violin; Ben Bolt-Martin, cello; Anna Ronai, piano
In the Steps of O’Carolan (March 1, 2026)
Blind Celtic harper, composer and singer Turlough O’Carolan is considered by many to be Ireland’s national composer. He was born in 1670, and lived to the age of 68, he spent the last 50 years of his life travelling the entire length and breadth of Ireland with a trusted guide, playing his own compositions as well as traditional music. Fiddler/violinist Dan Stacey has long been fascinated with O’Carolan and his work, and he joins the Ensemble to tell the story of this composer and his music.
Performers: Cedric Smith, narrator; Dan Stacey, violin; INNERchamber Ensemble: Andrew Chung, violin; Ben Bolt-Martin, cello; Julia Seager-Scott, harp
Reverence (April 12, 2026)
This collaborative concert has springtime and reverence for the planet as its theme, including new works by composer Spy Dénommé-Welch, who also co-curates the program. Dr. Spy Dénommé-Welch (Algonquin-Anishnaabe) is a multi-disciplinary artist and scholar, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Arts, Knowledge Systems and Education — Critical Policy, Equity and Leadership Studies at the University of Western Ontario.
Performers: Narrator TBA; INNERchamber Ensemble: Liesel Deppe, flute; Andrew Chung, violin; Ben Bolt-Martin, cello; Graham Hargrove, percussion
Season Closer: Imagining Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (May 24, 2026)
Composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s music was unique, blending elements of late Viennese Romanticism with those of North American Black music as it was around the turn of the 20th century. Actor Roy Lewis uses a mash-up of fact and fiction, prose and poetry to illuminate Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s life and times.
Performers: Roy Lewis, narrator; INNERchamber Ensemble: Peter Shackleton, clarinet; Charmaine Fopoussi, piano; Andrew Chung, violin; Judith Davenport, viola; Ben Bolt-Martin, cello
The INNERchamber String Quartet performs the Adagio from Mendelssohn’s String Quartet Op. 44, No. 3. Performed live at Factory163 in Stratford, Ontario, September 22, 2024, with Andrew Chung and Julie Baumgartel, violins, Judith Davenport, viola, and Ben Bolt-Martin, cello:
Concert Details
Concerts begin at 7 p.m. at Factory163, (163 King Street, Stratford ON), and dinner is served before each concert from 5:45 p.m.
INNERchamber will continue to make two live concerts accessible through Video On Demand (VOD), recorded by Mike Fisher of Stream Studio. In the Steps of O’Carolan and Imagining Samuel Coleridge-Taylor will be the two concerts available on VOD on the Wednesday after each live event.
- INNERchamber is a registered charity and not-for-profit, and you can make tax-deductible donations online [HERE].
You can direct your donation to Season 16, or specify the JD Sterne Memorial Award, or INNERchamber’s outreach program, which sees them performing for children or seniors in the community.
- Season Pass Subscriptions and Single Tickets are now on sale, with student and arts worker discounts available, [HERE].
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