Past Events › Chamber music

Founded in Vancouver, BC in 2000, the Borealis has toured extensively in North America and Europe and in recent years, established close ties with Asia, touring extensively in Taiwan and China. In addition to an active concert career, the Borealis is committed to outreach and the community, playing for both seniors and children.

A program that features music of Spanish and Latin composers and the added feature of celebrating a commission by renowned Mexican composer Arturo Márquez, which was written to mark Joaquin’s recent departure from the TSO.

The Gryphon Trio celebrates its 30th anniversary! The Trio continues to impress critics and audiences with its highly-refined, dynamic performances.

Some of the brightest rising stars on the Canadian classical music scene illuminate the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre in an exciting hour of chamber music celebrating their victories at The Glenn Gould Chamber Music Competition.

A memorizing musical journey from Strauss’s songs and duet concertino through to Ravel’s Shéhérazade and Lebanese songs performed by the captivating soprano, Joyce El-Khoury. Featuring Timothy Ying (violin) Kathleen Kajioka (violin) and Michael Sweeney.

ADOLPHUS HAILSTORK Yuhwa (The Goddess of the Willow Trees) for solo flute ELEANOR ALBERGA Succubus Moon for oboe and string quartet KATHERINE HOOVER Kokopeli for solo flute 20th Edition! Get ready for some surprises WolfGANG Sessions at Club SAW is a night of music that is sure to entertain. Grab your adventurous friends and take them out for a wild night of Chamber Music with some of your favourite musicians from the NAC Orchestra.

A dazzling program curated by Confluence Concerts’ Larry Beckwith, telling the remarkable life story of the 19th century virtuoso pianist and composer Clara Schumann

By almost any measure, our ability to communicate has never been more advanced. Nevertheless, people and communities – though linked by technology – still struggle to connect in meaningful ways.

Chamber Music Institute Masterclass with Juan-Miguel Hernandez

Shuffle: Miró Quartet

One of America’s most celebrated string quartets, the Miró Quartet, takes the stage to teach the ins and outs of the string quartet, in a fun and relaxed environment.

Free noon-hour concerts featuring Chamber Music Institute Fellows at Heliconian Hall.

Free noon-hour concerts featuring Chamber Music Institute Fellows at Heliconian Hall.

Free noon-hour concerts featuring Chamber Music Institute Fellows at Heliconian Hall.

Two superlative pieces from the traditional string quartet repertoire by Haydn and Brahms bookend two exquisite examples of the medium by contemporary Pulitzer Prize-winning American composers.

A rich tapestry of the choral and solo vocal music of the prominent and prolific Canadian composer John Beckwith (1927-2022) including a variety of his clever and heart-warming arrangements of folk songs from across the country.

Songs by Schubert, Fauré, Wolf, Heggie, Smith Moore, Butterworth, R. Strauss, Schoenberg, Messiaen, Britten, John Musto, and Erik Ross
Ella Farlinger, Leandra Dahm, Dante Mullin-Santone, William Salinas-Crosby, Rebecca Golub, Gregory Smith, Mizi Li, Michelle Kim

Inspired: Mozart, Brahms & Cipullo

The New Zealand Quartet offers a deeply satisfying program opening with Haydn’s Emperor quartet paired with Shostakovich’s 2nd quartet.

Celebrating its 30th anniversary, the Gryphon Trio offers audiences a musical soirée in two parts.

Join Kelly Hall-Tompkins, Jennifer Frautschi (violin), Barry Shiffman (viola), Matthew Zalkind (cello), and Philip Chiu (piano) as they introduce you to all things chamber music!

Violinist Heng-Han Hou returns to TSM with a dazzling program, and as a Community Program mentor the following week!

As 2022 Winners of the Banff International String Quartet Competition, these up-and-coming artists are on track for worldwide success on the concert hall stage. In tribute to the legendary Juilliard String Quartet, the Isidore String Quartet is “approaching the established as if it were new, and the new as if it were firmly established” with an electrifying program.

Grammy Award-winning violinist and long-time Chamberfriend James Ehnes opens Chamberfest with a blockbuster, leading the NAC orchestra’s final concert of the season with a program of Bach’s violin concertos.

Marc-André Hamelin, piano; Penderecki String Quartet

Winners of the 2022 Banff International String Quartet Competition and a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant, the American ensemble combines old and new with a varied program stretching from Beethoven and Bach to Aida Shirazi and a piece by Ottawa’s own Dinuk Wijeratne, The Disappearance of Lisa Gherardini.

Music that celebrates a variety of traditions – from central Europe to Iran, from the concert hall to the stage of a Broadway theatre – makes up this exhilarating program. Like so much music by nineteenth-century Czech composer Dvořák, this profound chamber work echoes with the traditional songs and dances of his native land.

Join the Rolston String Quartet and guest Violist Rory McLeod for a family-friendly concert that embraces neurodiversity and disability.

Love and Despair: Korngold & Franck

Night Garden: Brahms & Kodály

Josh “Socalled” Dolgin, “the mad wizard of Yiddish Hip-Hop”, digs into his roots with this heart breaking, trailblazing show, Socalled sings Yiddish.

Chamberfest regulars Beth Silver (cello) and Jenna Richards (piano) are known for their characterful delivery and non-traditional programs.

Duo Concertante take you on an exciting musical journey with a focus on female composers both living and from the past.

“…the most important part of the afternoon program was probably Ovcharenko’s astonishing Liszt Sonata in B minor. Lushly detailed and violently thrilling, it left us holding our breath and riveted…. “

Autorickshaw meets the Penderecki String Quartet in an east-west musical masala that explores the exotic melodies and rhythms of India united with the endless possibilities of western harmony.

An annual feature of the Chamberfest summer music festival, Rising Stars showcases the region’s finest emerging talent.

Canadian bright light Sarah Slean is a four-time JUNO- and two-time GEMINI-nominated performer, and a CSA-winning composer with 25 years of wide-ranging experience in music.

Aline’s étoile magique has really captured my attention… It’s intelligent, soulful, exploratory, and above all – fun! For those with curious ears, this music is for you. – Mark Fewer (violinist)

Duo Concertante celebrates women composers with a programme including three works commissioned by the duo: Ottawa’s Kelly-Marie Murphy’s “Dance Me to your Beauty with a Burning Violin,” Jocelyn Morlock’s “Petrichor,” and Dawn Avery’s “Iotsistokwaronion.”

The Nicole Senécal Emerging Artist Award recognizes an exceptional graduating student from the University of Ottawa’s School of Music on the cusp of a professional career.

The Canadian National Brass Project is true Canadiana. Drawing from the title chairs of fifteen North American orchestras and under the artistic leadership of Canada’s premiere horn soloist James Sommerville, this special collaboration shines a light on Canada’s foremost players and composers.

Montreal’s Space Time Continuo invites us to travel down below the treble clef and to venture beyond Pachelbel’s Canon in D!

This concert features the Thalea String Quartet, who will bring their tight-knit energy and passion to this captivating concert for kids.

Chamberfest favourite Mark Fewer returns with a lush and passionate program including Ernest Chausson’s Concerto for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet, and a newly commissioned work from Yellowknife’s award-winning contemporary composer Carmen Braden.

Free noon-hour concerts featuring Chamber Music Institute Fellows at Heliconian Hall.

Chamberfest welcomes CBC’s Tom Allen and friends to the stage for “JS Bach’s Long Walk in the Snow,” a narrated performance accompanied by music.

urprisingly, the phrase “New Music” was first introduced in the early 1930s by Viennese composers Arnold Schonberg and Anton Webern, but we have always been delighted – and sometimes challenged – by new developments in art music.

Superstar pianist Hinrich Alpers returns to Chamberfest twice for the thrilling culmination of his Beethoven solo piano sonata cycle.

Attention string quartet lovers and musical thrill seekers: this concert is for you!

Chamberfest is proud to present the launch of Nonlinear, a duo debut album of original compositions by two of Ottawa’s favourite jazz pianists!

Free noon-hour concerts featuring Chamber Music Institute Fellows at Heliconian Hall.

500 years after Da Vinci’s death, Constantinople presents a musical reconstruction of Da Vinci’s Bridge, creating – with music – the bridge Leonardo Da Vinci designed for the city of Constantinople that was never built.

In recent years Beth has emerged as one of the world’s leading cellists in the klezmer genre, blending cantorial-esque fiddle techniques with a classical cello background to create a new voice for traditional Ashkenazi Jewish music.

Chamberfest will be hosting a masterclass led by pianist David Braid in partnership with the Steinway Piano Gallery Ottawa. This masterclass is open to the public, but registration is required.

Longtime Chamberfest friends and collaborators, the Gryphon Trio celebrates 30 years together with a pearl of a program.

Montreal string nonet collectif9 presents Rituæls, a grand, deliberate artistic ceremony of a concert bringing together works dating from the Middle Ages to the 21st century with music by Hildegard von Bingen, Arvo Pärt, Michael Tippett, Nicole Lizée, Bryce Dessner, and Jocelyn Morlock. Throughout the show, the musicians occupy several spaces in a way that echoes the grandeur and the depth of the pieces on the program.

Free noon-hour concerts featuring Chamber Music Institute Fellows at Heliconian Hall.

No stranger to Chamberfest and Ottawa’s music community, Trio INK is the NAC Orchestra’s concertmaster Yosuke Kawasaki (violin) and friends Wolfram Knesset (cello) and Vadim Serbryany (piano). Join us for a gorgeous lunch-time concert including recently-departed Jocelyn Morlock’s Asylum, Rebecca Clarke’s lush Piano Trio, and Dvorak’s Piano Trio in F Minor.

Back from Vienna, Chamberfest is delighted to welcome home one of Ottawa’s own international superstars, Wallis Giunta.

Love, rage, heartbreak, and joy come alive in this song cycle that pulls inspiration from ancient folk melodies of Sweden, Turkey, Ireland, Asia and more.

Come enjoy the electric energy of a Celtic kitchen party with your kids. We’ll keep you on your feet — you may even learn a step or two! This toe-tapping, hand-clapping, singalong experience is fun for the whole family!

Chamberfest is excited to present this unique, multi-disciplined, all-Canadian event. Combining martial arts with music, prize-winning Tai Chi Chuan players Jonathan Krehm, David Robert, and Evonne Tan join Ottawa’s Ironwood Quartet in an ode to both the Chinese martial art, and to Canadian artistry.

New Music Now: Mashup features 21st-century works for strings, sonic experiments for harp and electronics, and brand-new works commissioned by Chamberfest, including Marie Claire Saindon’s Ferme les Yeux, all brought to life by Ottawa’s favourite new music performers and Chamberfest Artist in Residence Nadia Sirota. It’s new, it’s fresh – be the first to hear it!

Join Canada’s next generation of Baroque all-stars for an evening of fresh and lively takes on old favourites and lesser-known treasures of the Baroque world.

Ottawa fiddler Anna Ludlow hails from Antigonish, Nova Scotia, and has been rocking the Canadian Celtic and folk scene for the past 2 decades.

Legendary Grammy-winner Jason Vieaux is “among the elite of today’s classical guitarists” (Gramophone) and is perhaps “the most precise and soulful classical guitarist of his generation” (NPR). From New York’s Lincoln Center to Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and the Seoul Arts Center, Jason Vieaux has cemented his reputation as an artist of brilliance and uncompromised mastery.

With more than a dozen albums and a thousand appearances worldwide behind them, this milestone concert marks the final touring season for the Lafayette String Quartet.

This…collaboration between an Early Music folk fusion trio from Canada and a Swedish singer…immediately has the appeal of the unusual. (Issue 131, The Living Tradition)

Chamberfest presents Starry Night with the Ottawa-based SHHH!! Ensemble. Describing their show as an “experience” (more so than a “contemporary music recital”), pianist Edana Higham and percussionist Zac Pulak explore a dreamscape full of natural and supernatural mysteries with a programme featuring new music commissioned for their project.