Free celebrations during the final weekend of the Luminato festival will be based in two locations: Harbourfront Centre and the Distillery District. There’s even a boat and dedicated TTC express bus linking the two venues. Here’s a rundown of some featured happenings.
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WHAT: OLG Music Stage at the Distillery
WHEN: June 13-15
WHERE: The Distillery District, 55 Mill Street
Trinity Square plays host to live music all weekend. Make sure you’re there Saturday afternoon to catch two of Toronto’s best and most intense dance-party bands: Afrobeat outfit Ultra Magnus at 1pm, and funk group Elastocitizens at 3:30pm. Other performers include soul singer Divine Brown (Friday, 9pm), eclectic classical crossover stars Quartetto Gelato (Saturday, 9pm), Havana — by way of Victoria, B.C. — songwriter Alex Cuba and his Alex Cuba All-Stars (Sunday, 5pm), and electric violin wizard Dr. Draw (Saturday and Sunday, noon).
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WHAT: Luminat’eau: Carnival H2O
WHEN: June 13-15
WHERE: Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay West
The Harbourfront Centre lineup for Luminato’s final weekend is astoundingly diverse — in keeping with the organization’s commitment to celebrating the entire world of arts. These are just a handpicked few of dozens of performances, workshops, tours and exhibitions.
On Friday, catch music Indo-Canadian singer Kiran Ahluwalia, the qawwali vocal music of the Sufi mystics, and The Luminat’OH! Cabaret, hosted by actor David Gale.
Saturday brings reggae and dancehall heavy Junior Reid, sound creations using water in its various forms by States of H2Orchestra, the Talisker Players and guests (including acclaimed mezzo-soprano Kristina Szabo) with music inspired by Bengali mystic Rabindranath Tagore, legendary Toronto saxophone nutcases the Shuffle Demons, and not one, but two bubble-related events courtesy of Newmindspace.
The States of H2Orchestra reappears on Sunday, along with Ojibwe dancer Matthew Pheasant, samba group Batacuda Carioca, and New Orleans street music stars the Hot 8 Brass Band.
In addition, there are all kinds of water-themed events and displays throughout the weekend — from Stories of the Water with Dr. Rita Cox and giant, aquatically related outdoor sand sculptures to the Luminato festival’s grand finale, a multidisciplinary celebration entitled Lake Spirit.
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WHAT: Virtual Wishing Well
WHEN: June 13 (6pm-11pm), June 14 (11am-11pm) and June 15 (11am-6pm)
WHERE: The Distillery District, 55 Mill Street
Virtual Wishing Well is an audio and visual installation in two parts.
The first, at the Jane Corkin Gallery, features an “audio wishing booth and virtual well created with light and water,” at (in?) which visitors are invited make an audio recording of their fondest hopes for Toronto’s future. For the second part, a projector set up in the TD Studio at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts will display the wishing-well imagery once again, and recordings made in the gallery will be piped into the space.
The audio component of this project is similar in feel to [murmur]; the difference is that the latter focuses on gathering and sharing reminicences from Toronto’s past, while the former will collect wishes for the Toronto to come. The free-for-all playback aspect of the messages shares its aesthetic with the Toronto Media Lab public text message display recently seen at the Toronto the Good party. It will be interesting to see (and hear) how the Virtual Wishing Well’s collected recordings will be used once Luminato is complete.
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WHAT: Street Dances / Dancing in The Streets
WHEN: June 13 (6pm-11pm), June 14 (11am-11pm) and June 15 (11am-6pm)
WHERE: The Distillery District, 55 Mill Street
Head to the corner of Parliament Street and Distillery Lane for a celebration and public workshops devoted to the art of movement — including a mime, dance utilizing American sign language, a Capoeira group, Flamenco dancers, break dancers, bellydancers, street dancers, and much more.
