Theatre Arts in the Hood
Acting, singing and dancing are just the most obvious things being taught at Scarborough Village Community Centre on Wednesday afternoons. Even more important, says George Randolph, founder of the Randolph Academy, are the confidence and self-esteem being instilled at this Arts in the Hood program.
Most of the students taking part in the two-month Triple Threat classes are from John McCrae Senior Public School in this troubled east end community. “Ours is a pretty high-needs school,” confirms Vice Principal Marsha Yamamoto. “We’ve got a lot of at-risk kids so we’re looking for alternative ways to engage them in school life. If we can connect them to something they’re interested in within the community, then they’ll stay out of trouble. They’re also learning to work more cooperatively.”
TSO Offstage: Violinist James Ehnes
Canadian violinist James Ehnes, above left, charmed a small but attentive audience at the Drake Hotel last night as part of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s Offstage series. Ehnes is in town for several star turns this week: he performs with the TSO Thursday (November 26, 2 pm) and Saturday (November 28, 8 pm) at Roy Thomson Hall and Sunday (November 29, 3 pm) at the George Weston Recital Hall, and he plays a solo concert at Koerner Hall (with accompanist Andrew Armstrong) Friday (November 27, 8 pm).
Broadcaster Rick Phillips steered a fascinating hour-long conversation that got to the heart of Ehnes’s passion for fine instruments, a fervour ignited by software magnate David Fulton’s $50 million collection of some of the world’s most treasured violins and violas. Enhes compared and contrasted the instruments on Homage, a 2008 compact disc and DVD about the Fulton Collection. “David Fulton and I are both violin geeks,” said Ehnes, “so having the opportunity to play all of those incredible instruments was a tremendous thrill.”
Photo by Christopher Jones
Best Deal in Town: COC Free Concert Series
The Free Concert Series at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre is probably the best free cultural program since Ontario Place razed the Forum. True, not every date on the calendar packs as much star power as yesterday’s recital by homegrown soprano Adrianne Pieczonka (left, with pianist Elizabeth Upchurch). But the program is deep and wide featuring vocal, piano and jazz recitals as well as chamber, world music and dance performances most Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 12 – 1 pm (with a handful of late afternoon sets from 5:30 – 6:30 pm).
Because she’s such a draw, Pieczonka had the punters lined up down the block an hour before showtime. In fact, some hopefuls had to be turned away as even the standing room sections above the Amphitheatre filled to capacity. Pieczonka did not disappoint! She sang a selection of arias from her new all-Puccini disc.
Finger-Lickin’ Good Performance Art
There was nothing staid or static about Korean-Canadian artist Insoon Ha’s exhibition launch at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art on Saturday (November 14). Ha’s show called Drain has gone up in MOCCA’s project room in tandem with a retrospective show by Montreal visual artist John Heward. About 40 people were on hand Saturday afternoon as Ha staged a performance piece in which she smeared a blank wall with chocolate before licking a series of words into the impromptu canvas. The words quickly bled back into the chocolate ground but the audience stood quitely mesmerized as the artist spelled out the words TASTE, PANT, OBEY with her tongue (see below). Chocolate dripped onto a three-dimensional tongue afixed at the bottom of the wall; Ha ended her performance by licking the tongue clean.
Dotting the I’s
Leaving MOCCA last week, I happened upon installation technician Danielle Greer in deep concentration as she literally dotted the I’s on the exhibit introduction. It never occurred to me that someone had to manually apply all the fininshing touches like dots and periods to such a big, graphic display. Talk about i-strain.
