I remember sitting with my boyhood friend Peter in the mid 1970s watching an early video on TV of Donna Summer's Love to Love You Baby. Peter was enthralled by the backup dancers and said, in a wistful way, "when I grow up I want to be a backup dancer to Donna Summer". Peter would be sad to learn today that Donna Summer has just died. She was the Queen of the disco ballad.
If you would like to learn more about Donna Summer's life then you maybe interested in this book:
Know of an upcoming audition? Tell us in person or email trlarts@torontopubliclibrary.ca. Want to leave your script here so you can refer actors to us? We do that too.
Audition items are for use in the library only and on first come first served basis. There are sometimes copies at other branches that you can borrow or reserve. We do have photocopying - but you'll need a copy card or blue library card - remember to add money at the Main 1st floor information desk. We're on the 5th floor - Arts Department desk - Toronto Reference Library - thank you and knock'm dead.
New to "New Music"? Curious about "Contemporary"? Joins us for the remaining two free concert programs of the "NEW MUSIC 101" series on Monday May 7 and May 14, 7-8pm -Toronto Reference Library Beeton Auditorium (789 Yonge Str.) - everyone is welcome.
Our series host - the Globe and Mail's music critic Robert Everett-Green and the members of Toronto New Music Alliance will serve as your personal tour guide to the world of contemporary classical music, combining performance and discussion.
Pushing the boundaries of musical expression...prepare yourself for a sonic adventure!
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Program 3: Monday May 7, 7-8pm - CONTACT CONTEMPORARY MUSIC and CONTINUUM CONTEMPORARY MUSIC
Contact ensemble (pictured above) presents "Strumming" - a work for solo electric guitar, soundtrack and video by Tim Brady. The video was created by Tim Brady and Martin Messier and the piece will be performed by guitarist Rob MacDonald.
"Telling a Story". there is a long and lively tradition of using music to convey a story, through many forms.
Continuum presents contemporary expressions of the practice, including "l'Elephant de mer" (from "Contes pour enfants pas sages") by west-coast composer Christopher Butterfield, "Why the parrot repeats human words" by east-coast composer Emily Doolittle, and a much-compressed version of Stravinsky's classic "l'Histoire du soldat".
The works call for clarinet, violin, viola and percussion, as well as narrator.
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Program 4: Monday May 14, 7-8pm - NEW ADVENTURES IN SOUND ART and junctQín KEYBOARD COLLECTIVE
New Adventures in Sound Art: Christof Migone (pictured on the right) will give a lecture and perform an excerpt from a new version of his work "Radio Naked". "Radio Naked" was a text created in response to the very strict conventions of speaking on radio and programming content on radio.
Christof is making a sound art realization of this text with the changing context of radio in mind for Toronto's Deep Wireless Festival. Darren Copeland will also be on hand to contextualize this presentation in relation to the Deep Wireless festival.
"Pianissimo" is a collection of outstanding contemporary works written for two emerging keyboard instruments: the toy piano and the kalimba (an African thumb piano).
We at Toronto Reference Library Arts Department are very excited to offer "New Music 101: Pushing the Boundaries of Sound and Peformance" for a second year and partner with the wonderful artists from the Toronto New Music Alliance.
Check out our previous blog post about the first two programs April 23 and April 30, 2012 (finished now). Guest presenters were Arraymusic, New Music Concerts, Soundstreams and the Canadian Music Centre.
If you are curious about the "New Music 101" performers and program in Spring 2011 last year - we had blogged about them as well.
New to "New Music"? Curious about "Contemporary"? The Globe and Mail's music critic Robert Everett-Green and the members of the Toronto New Music Alliance will serve as your personal tour guide to the world of contemporary classical music, combining performance and discussion.
Joins us for this free series of four programs at Toronto Reference Library (789 Yonge Str.), every Monday night from April 23 to May 14, 7-8pm at the Beeton Auditorium, main floor. Everyone is welcome, no registration is required. Each program will showcase performers and composers that are active in Toronto. Prepare yourself for a sonic adventure!
Monday April 23, 7-8pm ARRAYMUSIC and NEW MUSIC CONCERTS.
Monday April 30, 7-8pm SOUNDSTREAMS and THE CANADIAN MUSIC CENTRE.
Monday May 7, 7-8pm CONTACT CONTEMPORARY MUSIC and CONTINUUM CONTEMPORARY MUSIC.
Monday May 14, 7-8pm NEW ADVENTURES IN SOUND ART and junctQín KEYBOARD COLLECTIVE.
Joseph Macerollo and Ina Henning perform Andrew Staniland's Pentagrams. Part 1 of 2. (Video Courtesy of Moving Headshots Productions.)
Below is the detailed program for the first two evenings in April 2012. We will blog about the third and fourth concerts in another post in May. For the entire four-part series - Download the New Music 101 folded program brochure 2012.
Program 1: Monday April 23, 7-8pm, ARRAYMUSIC and NEW MUSIC CONCERTS
This collaboration between Arraymusic and the Toy Piano Composers will present a compelling in-depth look into the processes and techniques in the preparation and execution of new music. Not only will the performers be on hand, the composers themselves will attend and speak about their material. [Photo credit: Arraymusic ensemble.]
Like many of Staniland's works, Pentagrams draws inspiration from some of the fascinating cultural aspects of numbers. Each of the five movements explores a specific musical inspiration drawn from the number five.
"Pentagrams" was commissioned by New Music Concerts and is dedicated to Joseph Macerollo and Ina Henning. [Pictured on the right.]
Program 2: Monday April 30, 7-8pm SOUNDSTREAMS and THE CANADIAN MUSIC CENTRE
Soundstreams will illustrate its approach to programming new music through a combination of audio/video excerpts and live performance.
The live performance will focus on contemporary repertoire for voice including a discussion about extended vocal techniques. [Photo credit: mezzo soprano Krisztina Szabo]
The Canadian Music Centre - "Shi" (poetry) - a new music/dance composition for solo dancer and electronic tape by Toronto composer Alice Ping Yee Ho, commissioned by Little Pear Garden Collective with the assistance of the Toronto Arts Council. "Shi" was choreographed by Emily Cheung, artistic director of Little Pear Garden, and will be performed by Bridgett Tsang. [Photo credits below: Left: composer Alice Ho; Right: choreographer Emily Cheung]
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We at the Arts Department of Toronto Reference Library are very excited to offer New Music 101: Pushing the Boundaries of Sound and Performance for a second year and partner with the wonderful artists from the New Music Alliance. It was a very successful and enthusiastically received program series last year and we have invited them again with different performances and discussions of contemporary classical music. (If you are curious about the "New Music 101" performers and program in Spring 2011 - we blogged about them.)
Toronto has a rich and diverse "new music" scene. The members of the New Music Aliance are unique organizations collaborating to promote and share the art of contemporary music with broad audiences. They are bold and creative, multi-disciplinary and experimental, they push the boundaries of musical expression. COME AND SEE FOR YOURSELF!
We're going to see work by seventeen contemporary photographers who are new to me.
Let's open it at random. Oh, I like these cherry blossoms by Hiromix.
I like these too -- by Jason Nocito. It says Nocito divides his time between New York and Vancouver.
I like this taped-up thing. Another Nocito. Funny. This works for me. Nocito has gotten something out of nothing.
Here's a page by Glynnis McDaris (another New Yorker). What's that at the lower left?
Oh, it's a cat. Pulling some kind of plastic cord? I like this a lot. Those whiskers! Very inspiring!
When I first noticed this McDaris picture I thought it was too pretty and conventional to be interesting. But now that I've seen her picture of the cat I think it looks mysterious and beautuful.
Let me give you the quickest look at this great collection of Thomas Ruff's photographs. Do you know Thomas Ruff? He's active now, working mostly in Germany.
He's famous for taking formal pictures of his friend's faces and exhibiting then as highly detailed prints seven feet high. He did dozens of these portaits -- all deadpan like these.
Reproduced in a book without the seven foot high effect they're still fascinating.
I'll finish with two pictures from a series Ruff took at night with infrafed film. I love these.
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Looking at these books made me want to get out my camera and take more pictures.
To celebrate his 80th birthday Sir Peter Blake has modernised his iconic album cover with new faces. It's a patriotic collage, a bit safer than the original perhaps - no Karl Marx, no Lenny Bruce. I mean, good grief, it's got Delia "how to cook an egg" Smith and Vidal Sassoon taking up space. But it's nice to see Vivienne Westwood and Elvis Costello (before he became Mr. Diana Krall) in the new work. And the Monty Python foot. Personally, I'd have liked to have seen the future Queen of Scotland, Susan Boyle, make the cut. The Guardian has a wonderful interactive version of the piece so you can see who's who.
But, what's this? Only one Beatle. I don't know why John, George and Ringo were excluded; it may have something to do with the fact that Blake does not own the copyright to this work.
It's a bit peculiar that he decided to re-make his best-known collage, as he always grumbled that Sgt. Pepper overshadowed the rest of his work. Lest we be accused of doing the same, here are some books of Peter Blake's other works in Toronto Public Library's collections.
If you like dystopianscience fiction movies (and who doesn't!), then you're likely familiar with the cult film Soylent Green. Featuring Charlton Heston and Edward G Robinson in his last film (he died 12 days after it finished filming) it presents a particularly bleak view of the future as seen from 1973. It was directed by Richard Fleischer who was best known for his special effects films like "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" and "Dr Dolittle". When I watch Soylent Green now I am especially struck by the respect for books and the knowledge they hold in a time before the Internet was even imagined.
If you're interested in books about Charlton Heston you may enjoy the following:
Please join us for the first in a series of four thought-provoking lectures presented by Toronto Public Library and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.
The guest speaker will be Jane Freeman, University of Toronto. The program takes place Tue Mar 06, 2012 from 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
This is one of four free lectures that form part of the On Stage Performing Arts Theatre Series at the Toronto Reference Library. They are jointly presented with Stratford Shakespeare Festival and the talks will cover plays being performed in 2012.
Did you know we have ebooks for Henry V as well as audiobooks of the play? There is even a "no fear" version of the play that presents the original text of Shakespeare's play side by side with a modern version, with marginal notes and explanations and full descriptions of each character.
If you were doing research on Henry V, or other Shakespearean plays, did you know Toronto Public Library has an online Shakespeare article research database ? It's free of charge and you can access it at any library branch Internet, or wifi or at home - you need to enter your library card and pin to access it. Take some time to explore - it has the complete plays (Arden editions), criticism on Shakespeare's works and performance and also full-text scholarly periodicals. Good for students or others and it's free to use with a TPL library card.
The library's blog devoted to the discovery of diverse artistic and cultural works in the library and Toronto. For more information on what the library has to offer please see our Theatre & Performing Arts page
