Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Happy 2017, everyone! There is so much to see, experience, and learn - don't let the cold keep you in, check out what's happening on the Bloor St. Culture Corridor this month! With all the awesome events, exhibitions, films, concerts, and lectures on the Bloor St. Culture Corridor, there is always something to enjoy this winter.
The Gardiner Museum
See two exhibitions in one visit to the Gardiner Museum! January is your last chance to experience 12 Trees: Good for the Earth and True Nordic: How Scandinavia Influenced Design in Canada on display at the Gardiner Museum until January 8. 12 Trees, a Toronto holiday tradition, this year features non-traditional trees made from natural, recycled, and sustainable materials. A large 35-foot Ontario spruce, donated by Forests Ontario and Ontario Wood, and decorated by Nordstrom, illuminates the front of the Museum. On the third floor, the landmark exhibition True Nordic showcases more than 100 works of ceramics, silverware, glass, textiles, and furniture together for the first time. Don't miss your chance to enjoy two special exhibitions and the Museum's renowned permanent collection all in one visit. More information is at gardinermuseum.com.
Please note: The Gardiner Museum will be closed Monday, January 9 - Sunday, January 15, in preparation for lobby renovations.
Toronto Reference Library
World-famous authors, award-winning screenwriter, and a feminist icon headline the new Appel Salon Season at Toronto Reference Library. Fourteen events featuring high-profile artists and thinkers are coming to the Appel Salon starting in January. The season will include Canadian favourites like Eden Robinson, Heather O'Neill, Margaret Atwood and Elan Mastai and international literary superstars including Paul Auster, Etgar Keret, Roxane Gay and Mohsin Hamid. Current issues and relevant hot topics will also be explored next season with a discussion on Toronto's untouchable real estate market featuring Toronto's chief urban planner Jennifer Keesmaat, founder of Westbank Projects Corp. Ian Gillespie and Star columnist Edward Keenan. The complicated ethics of hacks and leaks will also be debated by Anonymous expert Gabriella Coleman, Mozilla Foundation's Executive Director, Mark Surman and Fortune writer Mathew Ingram, at an event presented in partnership with the McLuhan Centre at U of T. For more information visit torontopubliclibrary.ca
Tafelmusik
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir
look forward to the fifth annual Tafelmusik Winter Institute (TWI). January 5 - 11, some 30 young musicians, all experienced period players, will spend a week studying Italian baroque orchestral repertoire, culminating in a FREE public performance on Wednesday, January 11 at 7:30pm at Trinity-St. Paul's Centre. The remarkable energy and commitment of the TWI Orchestra never fails to impress and delight, and we encourage you to come. Long-time Tafelmusik collaborator Peter Harvey, baritone, returns in Intimate German Baroque from January 19 - 22 at Trinity-St. Paul's Centre. Peter is joined by a chamber ensemble of Tafelmusik musicians in a program designed by Music Director Emerita Jeanne Lamon, featuring an exploration of the richly passionate music written in Germany in the decades before J.S. Bach. Call the Tafelmusik Box Office at 416.964.6337 for tickets. For more information visit tafelmusik.org.
Museum of Estonians Abroad/VEMU
In January at the Museum of Estonians Abroad/VEMU, see the exhibition Free Lines. Portraits from the Restored Republic of Estonia by Andrus Peegel. On January 15 and January 29 at 4pm The Tartu College Film Society will present film screenings free of charge. On January 18 at 7pm, the Estonian Filiae Patriae women's sorority will host an improv workshop and performance led by Estonian Improv Theatre from Tallinn. The workshop will be in English and Estonian and an improvised mix of both. Workshop is limited to 15 participants. No admission fee, and a small donation would be appreciated. Please register by January 13 by emailing marika.mayfield@vemu.ca. An exciting week of theatre will conclude on January 21 at 7:30pm with a performance by the Estonian Improv Theatre titled Improv @ Tartu. In English. Tickets $25, available in person or by calling 416.925.9405. On January 25, Tõnu Tõsine will give a lecture: The Estonian White House or a Historical Perspective of Estonian Limestone. In Estonian. No admission fee. For more information visit vemu.ca
Hot Doc Ted Rogers Cinema
Catch some of this past year's documentary hits with Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema's Best of 2016, including Weiner, Fire at Sea and more (January 6-12). Pay tribute to the brilliant Leonard Cohen with our Tower of Sound: Remembering Leonard Cohen retrospective (January 13-19). Theatre buffs will love the Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened (January 20-26), the story of Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along. Explore the 70-year career of a Canadian screen icon in The Rover of my Dreams: A Portrait of Gordon Pinsent (January 27-31). Start your morning right with our new Curious Minds courses: The Big Shadow: The World of Film Noir, The Beatles and their World and Around the World in Art Deco. Doc Soup Sundays returns with Gabo: The Creation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez (January 29). For more information visit hotdocscinema.ca.
Royal Ontario Museum (The ROM)
Visit the ROM in January to enjoy Wildlife Photographer of the Year (WPY) a specially pricedexhibition, featuring 100 striking landscape and biodiversity images from the world's most prestigious nature photography competition. Enhance your WPY experience with ROM U: Digital, Drones and Post-Production, an engaging, full day workshop taking place January 22. Tickets, available here, are $72 for members, students and teachers, and $80 for the public. Also on display is the stunning Art, Honour, and Ridicule: Asafo Flags from Southern Ghana. Opening on January 21 is Isaac Julien: Other Destinies, an exhibition consisting of two film projections, WESTERN UNION: Small Boats (2007) and True North (2004). On January 17, ROMSpeaks features Columbia University's Dr. Julia Siemon for A Masterpiece of Renaissance Silver: The Aldobrandini Tazza, a talk about a remarkable work of Renaissance art from the ROM's very own collections - a gilded silver tazzas. Tickets, available here, are $18 for members, $20 for the public. Other ROM Speaks lectures in January include Isaac Julien In His Own Words on January 24, and Reimagining the Past: The Burgess Shale and the Creation of ROM's Dawn of Life Gallery on January 31. Visit rom.on.ca for details and tickets.
Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre
January is a month of staying active at the Miles Nadal
Jewish Community Centre, a.k.a. "the J". The main floor gallery displays athletic triumph in Live to Move, a photography exhibit by Arthur Poirier January 5 - 31. The Toronto Jewish Film Society launches their 2017 season with The Other Son on January 22. Explore the films of Catherine Breillat, Claire Denis and Kelly Reichardt in Auteur Directors in Nayman's Terms, starting January 23. Drop-in daytime lectures include Laughter is the Best Medicine: The Genius of Neil Simon with actor/comedian Jack Newman on January 12 & 19, and Singing for Social Change: Women Musicians of the 1960s & 70s with folk singer Eve Goldberg on January 26 & February 2. Don't wait to make music: join the Klezmer Ensemble, Jazz Choir or Daytime Choir. There's something for everyone at the J. For more information visit mnjcc.org.
The Royal Conservatory of Music
January Concerts at The Royal Conservatory's Koerner Hall include the JCT Trio, a sizzling new ensemble that features Stefan Jackiw (violin), Jay Campbell (cello), and Conrad Tao (piano), who will perform trios by Ives and Dvořák as well as one early and one late trio by Mozart on January 21. Jackiw is recognized for musicianship that combines poetry and purity with an impeccable technique, Tao has been dubbed a musician of "probing intellect and open-hearted vision" by The New York Times, and Campbell has been called "electrifying" by The New York Times. Then the star-studded Maple Blues Awards evening on January 23 will be hosted by be Canadian multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, record producer, and the frontman of MonkeyJunk, Steve Marriner, and the performers include The Paul DesLauriers Band, Tim Williams, Sugar Brown, Michael Kaeshammer, and Shakura S'Aida. For more information and tickets visit performance.rcmusic.ca
University of Toronto Faculty of Music
The University of Toronto Faculty of Music rings in 2017 with the New Music Festival! The week-long festival starts January 29 and features prominent Italian composer Salvatore Sciarrino. Full festival details available online. The Thursdays at Noon free concert series continues January 12 with innovative chamber group THREE, featuring Canadian soloists Leslie Newman (flute), Nadina Mackie Jackson (bassoon) and Guy Few (piano/trumpet). January 19 tenor Colin Ainsworth and pianist Stephen Ralls perform Holman, Liszt and Britten. January 26 pianist Asher Ian Armstrong presents a program of Bach, Liszt, Wagner and Franck. All concerts take place in Walter Hall. January 24 the Faculty welcomes alumnus Richard Bronskill, Louis Applebaum Distinguished Visitor in Film Composition, for a free public lecture. Bronskill's orchestration can be heard in hundreds of popular movies and television shows including Star Trek and 21 Jump Street. For more information visit music.utoronto.ca.
Bata Shoe Museum
The Bata Shoe Museum continues its popular film series this month with a focus on the Arctic. Join us on January 12 at 6pm for PayWhatYouCan and see the screening of ARTCIRQ, a charmingdocumentary featuring a group of students from Montreal's National Circus School and local Inuit youth from Igloolik as they produce a unique circus performance that marries Inuit traditions with classic elements of the Big Top. Wondering what to do with the kids on the January 20 PA Day? Bring them down to the coolest shoebox for some fun crafts, ISpy games, try-on shoes and more! On January 29, drop by to see talented patina artist Emmanuel Farré as he demonstrates his unique and elegant patina techniques on genuine leather goods and footwear - part of the new 'Spotlight on Shoemaking' Series! For more information, please visit batashoemuseum.ca.
Istituto Italiano di Cultura
The Istituto Italiano di Cultura presents "The Necessary Time," a photographic exhibition by the Italian Canadian photographer Ljubodrag Andric. On January 11 at 6:30pm the IIC will host a conversation with Ljubodrag Andric, Marta Braun & guests. The talk will be about Andric's photographic body of work including the exhibit The Necessary Time, which will close on Wednesday, January 18. A Q&A session will follow. On Tuesday, January 17, Italian-Canadian writer Corrado Paina will present the English version of his novel "Between Rothko and Three Windows" recently published by Quattro Books, translation by Damiano Pietropaolo. On the occasion of the Holocaust Remembrance Day 2017, the documentary "Shores of Light, Salento 1945-7" (56 min - 2015) written and directed by Yael Katzir, produced by Gady Castel and Yael Katzir, will be screened at Spadina Theatre on Tuesday, January 24 at 6:30pm. Admission is free to all the events. For more information visit iictoronto.esteri.it.
Alliance Française Toronto
In January Alliance Française has lots of surprises in store for you! Amazing concerts, interesting lectures and beautiful movies for all tastes. The first lecture, on January 18, will be about 1867 and the history of French America, presented by historian and political commentator Patrice Dutil. On January 25, Alliance Française will host philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo for a lecture about today's intellectuals. To begin 2017 on a high note Alliance Française is offering two exceptional concerts. On January 20 soprano Lorna McDonald will perform a recital of the songs and music of New France. On January 28 ethnomusicologist Judith Cohen will bring us into the universe of the music of the Middle Age. A duo exhibition by artists Marie-Do Hyman-Boneu and W.W Hung will will start on January 11 and last until February 4. Movie Thursday: In December Alliance Francaise will be screening Laurence Anyways by Xavier Dolan, The double life of Veronique by Krzysztof Kieslowski, Dangerous Liaisons by Stephen Frears, and Grey Matter by Kivu Ruhorahoza. For more information visit alliance-francaise.ca.
Japan Foundation, Toronto
In conjunction with the ongoing exhibition Legendary Loyalty: The 47 Ronin in Japanese Prints, the Japan Foundation, Toronto continues their 47 Ronin-related programming with "vengeance"-themed films. January's subjects include vengeful executives (Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well, January 18), and bloodthirsty ghost cats (Shindo's Kuroneko, January 25). In addition, program officer Toshi Aoyagi will deliver a series of talks on the 47 Ronin in kabuki theatre (January 16 & 26). As it happens, two out of three of the Japan Foundation's annual Japanese Movie Screenings at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema are also samurai-themed: Neko Samurai (January 8) and A Tale of Samurai Cooking (January 15). Rounding out the program is the Sue, Mai and Sawa (January 8), a comedy/drama which, while unrelated to samurai, is a charming and insightful look at modern-day Japanese mores. All events are free. For more information visit jftor.org.
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2017-01-01
Toronto: Events on the Bloor Street Culture Corridor in January 2017