The Ottawa Chamber Music Festival unveiled its concerts for this summer on Wednesday, promising plenty of nods to Franz Liszt to mark the 200th anniversary of the Hungarian pianist's birth.

Concerts by Katherine Chi and Marc-André Hamelin, as well as a conference at Carleton University, will celebrate the composer's work at Ottawa Chamberfest 2011.

The chamber music society's artistic director, Roman Borys, also lined up a superstar Canadian soprano to open the festival.

"People love Karina Gauvin," he said. "They love Mozart. They love the NAC. I think it's going to be a spectacular opening."

Dedicated to Jacob Siskind

Another celebrated soprano, Isabel Bayrakdarian, will close the festival, in a concert with pianist Anton Kuerti.

In between are some 90 concerts, with performances ranging from American pianist Simone Dinnerstein, to a late-night performance with retired ballerina Evelyn Hart.

The entire festival, which takes place July 23 to Aug. 5, is dedicated to the memory of music critic Jacob Siskind. When he died last fall, he left a bequest worth more than a million dollars to ensure Chamberfest has some financial stability for years to come.

Early-bird passes are on sale now until June 3, 2011. For ticket pricing information, keep checking the festival's website. A complete program and the full list of performers will also be made available on the website on May 2.