Luminato fest spreads art, music, dance, theatre across Toronto
Top Canadian, international acts descend on city for annual festival
June 6, 2014
CBC News
The massive annual Luminato multi-disciplinary arts and culture festival has descended on Toronto, filling the city with live music, dance, theatre, visual art, magicians, culinary events and literary discussions highlighting artists from around the globe.
Love, birth, death and passion are among the themes explored at this year's event, led by artistic director Jorn Weisbrodt.
A wide range of Canadian artists are participating in the Toronto festival, including:
- Singer, songwriter and composer Rufus Wainwright, with his show If I Loved You: Gentlemen Prefer Broadway - an Evening of Love Duets.
- Performers Tanya Tagaq and Buffy Sainte-Marie presenting the landmark documentary Nanook of the North.
- Outrageous performance and visual artist Terence Koh unveiling two new, Canadian-themed installations at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection.
- DJ Kid Koala, who will perform a concert of original music tied to his and Munro Ferguson's new 3D animated short Minotaur.
International stars have also landed in the city to take part, including:
- Isabella Rossellini, performing her live stage show Green Porno, based on her Sundance Film series of the same name.
- The Roots, prepped to rock the festival's central hub of David Pecaut Square.
- Pina Bausch's Tanztheater Wuppertal Dance Company, staging the late German choreographer's masterpiece Kontakthof.
Public spaces are also being transformed over the next 10 days, such as the giant urban oasis dubbed "Cardboard Beach" taking over the festival's central hub for the duration of Luminato and the video art that is playing for commuters throughout the city's TTC screens.
Music Mob, which invites as many musicians as possible to join the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and play Ravel's Boléro at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday afternoon, is one of the many interactive experiences open to the public.
Altogether, hundreds of events are scheduled for the city's theatres, concert halls, parks and public spaces.
Luminato 2014 continues through June 15.
