Ottawa Music Guide

From classical to underground, Ottawa has a thriving music scene. We've cultivated a strong independent music scene, and numerous music festivals cater to most genres and tastes.

Featured Listings

Ottawa Jazz Scene
Do you love jazz and improvised music? Or would you like to expand what you're listening to now to include the variety of great live jazz in Ottawa-Gatineau? Not sure where to start? Extensive event and club listings, interviews, musician links, news, and photos are updated daily by jazz fans with 20+ years experience. If you like live music, whether it's vocal, instrumental, avant-garde, smooth, or standards, check out OttawaJazzScene.ca
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OttawaStart Entertainment Headlines

Concert Listings

Please see our new Ottawa Concerts Guide...

News & Events

ArtsAlive.ca
From the National Arts Centre: Learn about orchestral music, dance, English and French language theatre, and explore engaging archival collections.
Arts Court
Ottawa's centre for the performing, visual, literary and media arts.
Classical Music Sentinel
Hip Hop Canada
Meet New Players
Meetup.com - Live Music in Ottawa
Now Playing (CHUO)
The Ottawa Arts Newsletter
Opus Pocus Classical Music Calendar
Classical music is extremely popular in Ottawa throughout the year. If you're a fan, a great way to keep on top of the scene is with this site, run by music fan Richard Todd.
Ottawa Blues, Jazz & Swing Guide
If you're one of those people who complain that Ottawa's annual Bluesfest has too much "non-blues" content, then check out this site. Updated by local music fan Jim Roy, he publishes weekly updates of all of the blues events taking place in and around Ottawa.
OttawaJazz .com
Year-round, your best bet for local jazz events and information is OttawaJazz.com. It has an extensive events calendar, links to local musicians, and jazz news.
Ottawa Live Music radio show
Ottawa Metal
Ottawa Music Festivals...
The Ottawa Musician
Spotlight Ottawa
The Wig
"What's new and worthwhile" on the local arts/entertainment scene, by Allan Wigney.
OverdoseTV
PunkOttawa.com
Sweet Disaster
TuneVault.com

Local Music Blogs

Disc Jockeys / DJ's

2 Js Music Machine
A4-Table Karaoke
Awesome Soundz
DJ Joe & Co
Dog & Pony Sound (karaoke)
Doug's D.J. Service
Dsound Entertainment
Dynamix Productions
First Quality Sound
Five Star Entertainment
FreshStone
Hawley DJ Services
JMC Mobile Disk Jockeys
Johnny Vegas
Mick Armitage Band
Midnight Music
Music Magic
Music Entertainment Group
OttawaDJService
Platinum Sound DJs
Prestige Entertainment Ottawa
Quality Entertainment
Selectroson
Summit Entertainment
Trinity Media Design
White Knights DJ Services
Planning a wedding? For more local wedding links, visit our Wedding Guide...

Music lessons

Local Services & Stores

Ably Productions (audio & video)
Andrew Nicolaev (piano tuning)
Blue Bear Sound
Click Track Audio
eatsleepmusic.com
End Hits
Fleet Pro Sound & Lighting
GeyerMusicProductions
Kanata Music Academy
Karaoke Banshee
Liverpool Court Studios
Mike's Music (instrument repair, sales, rentals)
Musik Express
Music Solutions
Organized Sound
Ottawa Disc Jockeys (DJs)
(via our Wedding Guide)
Paz Productions
PRS Concerts
RecordStoreReview.com
Reverie Creation (concert promotion)
Revolution Rock
Spaceman Music (used instruments, formerly Songbird Music)
Sound of One Hand (recording studio)
Soundstorm Voices
Steve's Music
STGuitarworks (guitar repair)
TuneVault.com
Voice Emergent
Worldstage Music (royalty-free music)

Organizations & groups

Ars Nova
Blackburn Chorus
Bytown OperaWorks
Canadian Centennial Choir
Capital Brassworks
Capital City Chorus
Gananoque Concert Association
Nepean Choir
Old Sod Folk Music Society of Ottawa
Ooh La La Opera!
Opera Lyra
Orpheus
Osgoode Township Male Choir
Ottawa Beatles Site
Features of note include pictures from John and Yoko's 1969 visit, questions and answers, and even the weather in Liverpool.
Ottawa Blues Society
Schema Productions
Spirit of Rasputin's
Stellae Boreales

Musicians & Bands

A'Chord East
Adams Avenue Band
Adrian Cho
Albert Kaprielian
Alex Wenzowski
Andrew Mah (guitar)
Barrelhouse
Big Soul Project
Black Cherry
Blunderboar
Bob Pilon & Bobcat Gray
Booth 49
Boswalos
Brad Sucks
Brant Pethick
Brothers Dubé
Canto Sentimento Quartet
Capital Chordettes
Capital Grass and the No Men
Caroline Leonardelli - Harpist
Celtic North
Circuit
Comfortably Numb
Daisytrain
Daniel Wnukowski (classical pianist)
Dark Star
David Renaud (classic wedding music)
De'Mos
Diamondback
Divertimento Orchestra
Depths of Music - DJ Arkaeus
Dopamine
electrovillain
Erick Traplin (Musician)
Finger of Knowledge
G8 Rock & Blues Band
Guy Del Villano
H2O Band (Caribbean music)
Hammerheads
Helium
Hungry Monkey
Impressions in Jazz Orchestra
Infinite Few
James Cohen
Jookbox
Jumpin' Jimmy Leroux
Kanata Symphony Orchestra
Kathleen Radke, Soprano
Kelly Craig
Kim Kaskew
Kristel Rose Tretter
Kristin Bell-Murray
Larry Wayne Church
Le Big Band Caravane
Lisgar O'Connor
Lola Spriggs
Lyon Street Celtic Band
Mo Sayk
Natasha Crowne
Nepean Concert Band
New Teeth
Orient Park
Ottawa Baroque Consort
Ottawa Fiddle Ensemble
Paul Brown Sound
Paul Sheehy Trio
Pete Foret Music Groups
Pete Webb Music
Ralph Hopper
Random
real gone daddies
Revolver
Robert Farrell
Ross Taylor
Royal Ottawa Band
Shakedown Blues
Siegel Entertainment
Slippery Slope
Sons of Scotland Pipes & Drums
soulcandy PRODUCTIONS (Jon E Shakka)
Spillback
Starfire
Stonebridge
Strings & Company
Stu Watkins, Bassist
Sugarphyx
Sunset Strip
Sweet Sounds Musicians
The Brothers Dube
These three brothers are Canada's Youngest Rock Band. You probably heard about them in July 2010 when Arcade Fire joined them for an impromptu sing-along after a Bluesfest show.
The Crackband
The Fabulous Belairs
The Funktion
The Gruff Sisters Kitchen Party
The Runes
The Vanity Press
The Vibe Remains The Same
Thirteen Strings
Tim Bedner - Jazz Guitar
Tom McMahon
Uncle Freddy
Universal Habit
Upside Blue
Virtuosi Productions
Wandering Minstrels
Wicked Grin

Music Clubs

Babylon
Barrymore's
The Bayou
Black Sheep Inn
Bourbon Street Music Hall
Elmdale House Tavern
Le Hibou (This legendary cafe / coffee house is no longer in operation, but in the 1960s and 1970s hosted performers like Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot, Neil Young, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Bruce Cockburn, Murray McLauchlan, David Wiffen, Colleen Peterson and Sneezy Waters.)
Mercury Lounge
The Rainbow
The Roxy
Zaphod Beeblebrox
Related: Ottawa Concerts Guide...