With Ottawa's Chamberfest coming right on the heels of two other major music festivals, the city's music scene hasn't taken many breaks this summer.
Chamberfest's executive director Glenn Hodgins said the season of music has started to get the city noticed.
"There's a really nice sequence of the jazz festival, the blues festival, the chamber festival, the folk festival," he said at Chamberfest's gala opening Saturday. "It's really become an amazing festival city . . . and it's something we can be really proud of."
The eighteenth annual classical music festival boats over 300 artists performing more than 100 shows across the city over the next two weeks.
"I like to think of it like the Olympic experience; you keep watching one exceptional performance after another," Hodgins said. "You keep thinking ‘Oh, there can't be another great one,' and then there's another great one."
Concertgoers said they enjoy the festival's unique feel.
"I really enjoy the music and it's a less formal atmosphere than a lot of concerts, so it's a lot of fun," said Karen Walker.
"It's intimate music," said Kathryn Gauthier. "It's not 200 players, you really get to hear what's happening and look at the different parts."
The festival runs until August 5, with closing night performances by Juno-winning soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian and Grammy-winning Pacifica Quartet at Dominion-Chalmers United Church.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Katie Griffin
