The inaugural Chamberfest Camerata brought Ironwood together with Poiesis Quartet and an expanded roster of festival artists for a high-energy closing-night program spanning Jessie Montgomery, Bartók, Mustonen, Beethoven, and Kilar, with a tribute to Cris Derksen opening the evening.

Created in celebration of Arvo Pärt’s 90th year, in / finite placed the stillness and spirituality of Pärt in dialogue with the visceral human drama of Schubert’s Death and the Maiden. Ironwood was joined by the Ottawa Bach Choir and pianist Carson Becke in a program exploring mortality, eternity, and transcendence.

2025 Honens Gold Laureate Élisabeth Pion made her Chamberfest debut with a program ranging from Liszt’s transcriptions of Schubert songs to her own compositions and Kapustin, before joining Ironwood for César Franck’s monumental Piano Quintet — the work she performed in the finals of the Honens Competition en route to winning the Gold Laureate title.

Ironwood welcomed two longtime musical colleagues for a morning devoted to Mozart, pairing the warmth of the clarinet quintet with one of Mozart’s great viola quintets in the luminous Beechwood Sacred Space. The performance was sold out.

2022 Honens Laureate Illia Ovcharenko returned to Chamberfest for an evening connecting Ukrainian and German Romantic traditions. After opening solo with five preludes by Boris Lyatoshynsky, he joined Ironwood Quartet for the chamber-music portion of the evening.

Cellist Bryan Cheng and Toronto Symphony Orchestra assistant principal violist Theresa Rudolph join Ironwood for two of the great Romantic string sextets, moving from the sun-drenched energy of Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence to Brahms’s luxuriant string writing.

Ironwood is joined by internationally acclaimed violist Yura Lee in a program shaped around musical friendships and connections, pairing Rebekah Cummings’s Chasing Beauty with Britten’s First Quartet and Dvořák’s richly lyrical E-flat-major String Quintet.

Ironwood anchors Chamberfest’s 30th-anniversary closing celebration featuring the world premiere of Kevin Lau’s Song of the Quaking Aspens, new music by violist-looper Ryan Davis, Brahms’s G-major Viola Quintet, Jessie Montgomery’s Voodoo Dolls, and Dvořák’s beloved Piano Quintet with Philip Chiu.

To close the evening, violinist Blake Pouliot takes to the stage alongside the Ironwood Quartet and friends to perform the ultimate party piece of the string ensemble repertoire: Mendelssohn’s Octet for Strings.

Program:
DOBRINKA TABAKOVA The Smile of Flamboyant Wings for string quartet
DINUK WIJERATNE The Disappearance of Lisa Gherardini for string quartet
DAVID BRUCE Gumboots for clarinet and string quartet

WATCH LIVE CONCERT VIDEO HERE

Ironwood Quartet (Jessica Linnebach, Emily Kruspe, Carissa Klopoushak, Rachel Mercer)
Sean Rice, clarinet

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 your favourite musicians from the NAC Orchestra.