Friday Special Blend
Friday July 24th, 2026 with Susan Johnston. Gianluca Petti.
Chamberfest Ottawa 2026
The 2026 edition of Chamberfest kicked off last week, and today we'll feature a number of musicians performing over the next week.
| Quatuor a cordes en fa majeur, M. 35: I. Allegro moderato Philip Chiu - Fables 
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| Philip Chiu & Janelle Fung - Friday 24th 19:00
Philip Chiu and Janelle Fung: Return of the Light Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre | 355 Cooper St, Ottawa, ON Dynamic piano duo Philip Chiu and Janelle Fung make their collaborative debut at Chamberfest with a dazzling programme featuring music by Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Bax, and Canadian composer Ian Cusson. |
| The Hunter's Funeral Collectif9 -
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| collectif9 & Ronny Desinor - Friday 24th 21:30
Great Canadian Theatre Company | 1233 Wellington St. W, Ottawa, ON K1Y 0G7 The Montreal-based powerhouse ensemble collectif9 returns to Chamberfest, this time joining forces with internationally renowned drummer Ronny Desinor for a genre-defying collaboration. Blending soul, jazz, and folk influences, the programme creates an atmosphere that is at once groovy and punchy, at times dissonant and boldly exploratory. Featuring music by Gabriella Smith, Giovanni Sollima, Curtis Stewart, Vijay Iyer, John Zorn, and Jessie Montgomery, this innovative programme is firmly rooted in the vibrant “here and now” of chamber music. |
| Lilith Jessica Pearson & the East Wind -
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| CKCU 93.1 FM and The Ottawa Tennis Club Presents "Summer Sundays" Music Series 2026
June 7 - August 30 Ottawa Tennis Club, 176 Cameron Ave Price: Typically $30 (goes directly to the artists) July 26: Jessica Pearson & the East Wind |
| Suite No. 1 for Cello in G Major Julia MacLaine -
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| Sat Jul 25 09:00 Yoga + Cello: Becky Radmore and Julia MacLaine
Ottawa City Hall, Lisgar Field | 29 Lisgar Street, Ottawa, ON Start your day with a gentle outdoor yoga practice, set to the beautiful sounds of National Arts Centre cellist Julia MacLaine. This calming morning session pairs classical cello music with mindful movement – the perfect way to ease into your weekend. As music and movement come together, you’re invited to be present in the moment, moving and breathing to gentle cello melodies. Celebrating five years as a community series, Chamberfest’s Saturday morning yoga classes have grown into a favourite for music lovers and yoga enthusiasts throughout the city. Led by instructor Becky Radmore, this welcoming, accessible practice offers options for every body. Bring a yoga mat – or a chair – and join us for a morning of music-filled mindfulness on the beautiful grounds of Ottawa City Hall (or indoors in case of inclement weather.) |
| Suite No. 2 for Cello in D Minor Julia MacLaine -
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| Old Canal The Lockmasters -
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| The Lockmasters with S/G Washboard Hank
9:00 PM on Saturday Jul. 25th Irene's Pub, 885 Bank St, Ottawa, ON K1S 3W4 Price: $20 |
| Stirring the Pot Schmaltz & Pepper -
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| Schmaltz & Pepper - Saturday 25th 13:00
Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre | 355 Cooper St, Ottawa, ON Schmaltz & Pepper return to Chamberfest following their smash sold-out performance last summer. Serving up more of their “classy Klezmer,” this red-hot ensemble, co-founded by Eric Abramovitz, principal clarinetist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and violinist-composer Rebekah Wolkstein, founder and leader of Payadora Tango Ensemble, delivers an afternoon of chamber music infused with jazzy flair and the perfect amount of schmaltz. Since their highly-successful Ottawa debut, the group has toured extensively across the country and continues to build momentum. Alongside a packed summer performance schedule, they are also preparing for an upcoming American tour. We can’t wait to discover what they have in store this time! |
| Evil Eye Schmaltz & Pepper -
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| A Dangerous Thing LAL - A Practice of Love
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| Somewhere Gone summersets - Pine Trees In A Perfect Row
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| Move Back Home summersets - Pine Trees In A Perfect Row
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| Canada summersets - Pine Trees In A Perfect Row
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| Marichka - Foreign Land Daughters of Donbas - Songs of Stolen Children
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| Fri Jul 31 21:30
Daughters of Donbas: Songs of Stolen Children Great Canadian Theatre Company | 1233 Wellington St. W, Ottawa, ON K1Y 0G7 Ukrainian-Canadian singer and ethnomusicologist Marichka (formerly of Lemon Bucket Orkestra and Balaklava Blues) presents Daughters of Donbas, a contemporary acoustic project rooted in emotional storytelling and Ukrainian folk traditions. Marichka is joined by bandura player and singer Alina Kuzma, violist and singer Zoë Santo, and a haunting quartet of strings for a programme grounded in real stories of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia. Blending art-folk, chamber songwriting, and the powerful “white voice” vocal style of Eastern Europe, the music moves between original works and reimagined fragments of folk song, at times expansive, at others pared down to voice and silence. Each piece bears witness to a stolen name, a stolen childhood, a silenced voice. Since its debut, Daughters of Donbas has toured internationally, with performances in Scotland, Estonia, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia. This evening, the ensemble brings this intimate, urgent, and resonant music to the Ottawa stage for the first time. |
| Rocket's Tail Kate Bush - The Sensual World |
| Ipari Park (feat. Klein) MIKE - Beware of the Monkey |
| On Wires Carly Rae Jepsen - Day and Night
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| Marichka - Riddle Daughters of Donbas - Songs of Stolen Children
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| Alina Kuzma - Lulaby Daughters of Donbas - Songs of Stolen Children
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| Resala Nabeel - Ghayoom
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Good morning FSB, as you love requests I would love to hear one version on Indochine's most successful songs, L'aventurier. As you know, Indochine started back in 1981 as a new-wave group & immediately became popular due to their sound, lyrics & the song L'aventurier which was inspired by Bob Morane, the comic book hero by Belgian novelist Henri Vernes. As this is their most popular song (closing out all their concerts), there are many versions of it (from new-wave to rock to classical). Given your theme today of Chamber Fest, perhaps you can find the 2006 version when Indochine performed a symphonic version live at the Hanoi Opera House in Vietnam as part of their Alice & June tour. You can find it on their 25th anniversary concert album: Hanoi (2007). Enjoy!
7:53 AM, July 24th, 2026