ABOUT THIRTEEN STRINGS
Thirteen Strings was founded in Ottawa in 1975 by the conductor Brian Law and string players from the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Brian led us until the end of the 1990-91 season. Jean-François Rivest served as artistic director from 1999-2006. Our concertmaster, Manuela Milani, succeeded Jerry Csaba when she retired in 2004.
We started off as a baroque ensemble and, in an ambitious undertaking, presented all of Handel's Concerti Grossi, Opus 6 in our first season (1976-77). Today, we still play baroque, are still ambitious, and have extended our repertoire to include compositions from the early 1700s right up to the modern day, with an emphasis on Canadian repertoire.
We also regularly invite guest performers and conductors to join us. From baritones to sopranos, from marimba players to Klezmer specialists, our guest artists have helped develop Thirteen Strings into one of the best known and most eclectic chamber orchestras in the country.