THE IRONWOOD QUARTET is made up of four dynamic and passionate Canadian musicians: Jessica Linnebach and Carissa Klopoushak (violins), David Marks (viola), and Julia MacLaine (cello), a quartet of curious musicians whose home base is Canada’s National Arts Centre.  During the short years since their debut in 2014, Ironwood has become one of Canada’s premiere chamber music ensembles. Originally from Edmonton, Saskatoon, Vancouver, and PEI and with musical interests ranging from Beethoven and Ravel to Philip Glass, Ukrainian and American folk music, Tango and Radiohead, their programming reflects a belief in the power of great music to unite.  

They first performed together in the inaugural NAC's WolfGANG Sessions at Ottawa’s Mercury Lounge (a series devoted to contemporary chamber music) and immediately felt the strength of their musical connection and their common passion for the tremendous and extensive repertoire for string quartet.  Ironwood has achieved critical acclaim for their “take no prisoners” approach to performances, and have since performed across the country (for the Ritornello, Musique Royale, Indian River festivals), in Paris, and in collaboration with pianists including Inon Barnatan and Jon Kimura Parker.

In 2019, the quartet became directors of the Classical Unbound Festival in Prince Edward County, Ontario.  2020 saw the quartet performing at GroundSwell Winnipeg before postponing engagements at Pontiac Enchanté, Toronto Summer Music, and at Classical Unbound. Not to be completely sidelined by the pandemic, the group recorded a performance of Prokofiev's Overture on Hebrew Themes with Carson Becke and Sean Rice in November, performed a livestream concert for "NACO at the Fourth" in December, and were ecstatic to once again take the stage before a limited live audience at Ottawa Chamberfest 2021, performing a Mendelssohn quartet and the Dohnanyi Piano Quintet with Jamie Parker.

updated November 2020 - please discard earlier biographies

Violinist Jessica Linnebach has distinguished herself among the next generation of Canadian classical artists being lauded on concert stages nationally and around the world. Since her soloist debut at the age of seven, Jessica has appeared with major orchestras throughout North America, Europe and Asia.   Jessica has been a member of the National Arts Centre Orchestra (NACO) since 2003 and was named their Associate Concertmaster in April 2010.

Acknowledging the importance of versatility in today’s world, Jessica has developed a reputation as one of those rare artists who has successfully built a multi-faceted career that encompasses solo, chamber and orchestral performances. A passionate chamber musician, Jessica was a founding member of the Zukerman ChamberPlayers, a string quintet led by Pinchas Zukerman. During the 8 years they performed together, they toured extensively to international acclaim appearing throughout North America, South America the Middle East, Europe, and Asia.  Their recording of the Mozart Viola Quintet in G minor was nominated for a Juno Award and its fifth release, Quintets by Mozart and Dvorak, is on the Altara Label. Chamber music collaborations have included some of the most illustrious artists of a generation - Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, James Ehnes, Leon Fleisher, Lynn Harrell, Yo-Yo Ma, Jon Kimura Parker, Itzhak Perlman, Gil Shaham, and Michael Tree.

In 2014, Jessica and three of her NACO colleagues formed the Ironwood String Quartet, and they are frequent performers at various chamber music series and festivals, including the WolfGANG and MFASA series, as well as the Pontiac Enchanté, Ritornello, and Classical Unbound festivals.

As her schedule permits, she is also a solo artist in demand across North America. Over the past couple of years she performed with orchestras in the United States, as well as in Canada, including the Edmonton and Thunder Bay Symphonies, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra.

Jessica is also the Artistic Director of the ‘Classical Unbound Festival’, a chamber music festival in Prince Edward County.

Accepted to the world-renowned Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia at the age of ten, Jessica remains one of the youngest ever Bachelor of Music graduates in the history of the school. While there, Jessica’s primary teachers were Aaron Rosand, Jaime Laredo and Ida Kavafian. At eighteen, she received her Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City where she studied with Pinchas Zukerman and Patinka Kopec.

Jessica Linnebach plays a circa 1840 Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume (Guarnerius del Gésu 1737) violin.  Her bows are crafted by Ron Forrester and Michael Vann.

CARISSA KLOPOUSHAK has made a name for herself as a curious, creative, and versatile musician. Based in Ottawa, she is a proud member of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Ironwood Quartet. A laureate of the 2018 Canada Council for the Arts Instrument Bank Competition, Carissa performs on the beautiful Maggini model 1851 Jean Baptiste Vuillaume violin. She has recently been named Interim Artistic Director of Ottawa Chamberfest, starting in that position in mid-August, 2020.

Carissa has toured the country extensively, performing recitals for Debut Atlantic and as the winner of the 2009 Eckhardt-Grammatté National Music Competition. A passionate collaborator, Carissa has been featured at Ottawa Chamberfest, Montreal Chamber Music Festival, Toronto Summer Music, Music & Beyond, Bravo! Niagara, and Music by the Sea. She spent a season performing with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, whom she joined for a series of tours and recordings, including a residency at The Banff Centre. She has shared the stage with acclaimed artists such as Jon Kimura Parker, the Gryphon Trio, Lara St. John, Giovanni Sollima, Mark Fewer, John Storgårds, Brandford Marsalis, Miloš Karadaglić, and Richard Reed Parry.

Founder and Artistic Director of the Ritornello Chamber Music Festival in her hometown, Saskatoon, the festival, now in its 12th year, strives to bring the chamber music concert experience into the 21st century through fresh and innovative programming and presentation. Carissa, with her friends in the Ironwood Quartet, serves as co-director of the Classical Unbound Festival in oenophilic Prince Edward County. Carissa enjoys performing in many different styles, especially Ukrainian folk music. She is the lead singer, violinist, and arranger in the Ukrainian turbo-folk band Тут і Там (pronounced Toot-ee-tahm). The band has recorded four full-length albums and performed at major Ukrainian festivals across Canada, Sydney, Australia, and in Ukraine.

As a dynamic and fluid musician never limited by genre, Carissa thrives in the richness of various musical experiences. In her multifaceted world, she has co-composed and recorded a ballet score for Edmonton’s Ukrainian Shumka Dancers’ production Ancestors & Elders, performed the Canadian premiere of Vivian Fung’s Concerto no. 1 with the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, and toured Canada, China, and Europe with the National Arts Centre Orchestra. She is a strong advocate for more inclusion in classical music, programming and performing new music, female composers, and giving a platform to underrepresented voices. Carissa’s evolution as an artist is guided by music’s universality—its power to connect people, its ability to build communities.

As both a musician and presenter, she aims to bring people closer together. The pursuit of meaningful and honest connection, combined with a healthy dose of curiosity, serves as the driving force shaping her artistic voice. She brings a versatile skill set, a unique voice, warm energy, and vigorous dedication to any project. Carissa holds a doctorate in violin performance from McGill University, where she focused on the little-known classical violin repertoire of Ukrainian composers. Her debut recording, SOUNDWORLDS, was released in 2016 with Canadian pianist Philip Chiu.

Assistant Principal Cello of the National Arts Centre Orchestra since 2014, JULIA MACLAINE performs worldwide as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician in music ranging from classical to contemporary and from ‘world’ to her own arrangements and compositions.

Ms. MacLaine has most recently performed in Montreal at the Salle Bourgie with the Quatuor Capitano for the SMCQ Festival, as well as at La Place des Arts and at Ottawa’s Concerts By The Canal with the Trio Grand-Duc. Her string quartet, Ironwood, will collaborate later this year with pianist Jon Kimura Parker at the National Gallery’s Music for a Sunday Afternoon series, at the Ritornello festival in Saskatoon, and at the Classical Unbound festival this summer in Prince Edward County.

During the ten years she spent living in New York City, Ms. MacLaine could often be heard on all three stages at Carnegie Hall. As a member of Ensemble Connect (previously ACJW), she performed numerous chamber music concerts at Weill and Zankel Halls, notably as the soloist in Tan Dun’s concerto Elegy: Snow In June. She also played frequently in Stern Auditorium as a member of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and as principal cellist for Osvaldo Golijov’s Pasion selun San Marcos. She has also performed with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Les Violons du Roy, and her chamber music collaborators include Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, membres of the Orion String Quartet, Ani and Ida Kavafian, Inon Barnatan, and Cynthia Phelps.

From 2005 to 2014, she was a member of the Brooklyn-based chamber orchestra The Knights, with whom she performed the Schumann Cello Concerto in 2012 in Central Park and for live broadcast by WQXR. The Grammy-nominated ensemble collaborates regularly with artists such as Gil Shaham, Renée Fleming, and Yo-Yo Ma, and has recorded several albums, several of which for SONY Classical.

An entrepreneurial musician, Ms. MacLaine co-founded the New York group The Ikarus Chamber Players, an ensemble that married classical chamber music with other art forms in their own concert series in auction houses, art galeries, and other unique venues. With her colleagues in the Academy (Carnegie and Juilliard-led fellowship connected to Ensemble ACJW/Connect), she formed the chamber music collective Decoda to develop community chamber music residencies around the world. With Decoda, Julia has performed at the Mecklenberg-Vorpommern Festival in Germany, in Abu Dhabi, at Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and across the United States. She has also appeared at the Lanaudière, Bic, Mostly Mozart, Tanglewood, and Ravinia Festivals.

Originally from Prince Edward Island, Julia studied with Antonio Lysy at McGill University (BMus), and with Timothy Eddy at the Mannes College of Music (Artist Diploma) and at The Juilliard School (MMus).

In 2014, after 12 years living abroad, violist DAVID MARKS returned to Canada to accept the position of Associate Principal with the NAC Orchestra.  Born in Vancouver, David grew up in Virginia in the heart of a musical family.  From an early age he experimented with composing, writing, drawing and painting; these passions have resulted in dozens of original songs, paintings and murals.  Viola studies took him across the US and Europe for lessons with Roberto Diaz, Atar Arad, Karen Tuttle, Gerard Caussé, Thomas Riebl and Nobuko Imai, to the Banff Centre, L'Académie de Musique Tibor Varga and Prussia Cove.  

In Europe, David performed as Principal Viola with L'Orchestre de Montpellier and L'Opera de Bordeaux, La Orquesta de la Ciudad de Granada, Holland Symfonia and Amsterdam Sinfonietta.  He was Principal Viola of the London Philharmonic under the batons of Vladimir Jurowski, Christoph Eschenbach, Yannick Nezet-Seguin and Marin Alsop.  As a fixture on the contemporary music scene, he performed across Europe with the Asko/Schonberg Ensemble, Ensemble Modern, Mondriaan Quartet, Fabrica Musica and Nieuw Amsterdamse Peil.  He was a member of the avant-garde Dutch contemporary music group, Nieuw Ensemble, with whom he toured China and recorded over 40 works.

As a folk musician, David has toured Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia singing his songs with The History of Dynamite.  His folk-opera, The Odyssey was performed at the Banff Centre and subsequently at Theater de Cameleon in Amsterdam.  He plays fiddle and guitar and has performed with Van Dyke Parks, Bill Frisell and Patrick Watson.  

He lives with his wife and 4 children in Wakefield, QC.