Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival
Date: July 24 - August 8
Website: www.chamberfest.com

The Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival has been operating each summer since 1994. In that year Julian Armour started a small festival that was to become the largest chamber music festival in the world. It has grown from 22 concerts in 1994 to over 130 concerts and performances in 2008, the 15th anniversary season. In 2003 the Festival was awarded Event of the Year by Ottawa Tourism. The CBC Radio frequently broadcasts concerts nationally during the festival, making the effective audience very large. The festival is organized and run by the Ottawa Chamber Music Society under the direction of Glenn Hodgins.

The festival attracts many of the world's major musicians and groups. Among those who have been or will be in the festival are the Beaux Arts Trio, the Tokyo String Quartet, the Emerson String Quartet, the Canadian Brass, Martin Beaver, Penderecki Quartet, Paul Stewart, Martin Chalifour, Monica Whicher, Julie Nesrallah, Quartango, Neil Gripp, Richard Raymond, the St. Lawrence Quartet, Mayumi Seiler, Keller Quartet, and Adaskin String Trio. Other artists include Marc-André Hamelin, Paul Merkelo, Patrick Wedd, Guy Fouquet, Musica Camerata, Stéphane Lemelin, Timothy Vernon, Jennifer Swartz, Matthew White, and Gino Quilico. The 2008 International Chamber Music Festival is delighted to have the Gryphon Trio as their Artistic Programming Directors, hosting such artists as Shanghai Quartet, Isabel Bayrakdarian and Quartetto Gelato, to name but a few.