The program has been carefully constructed to enable audiences to explore for themselves the many parallels and contrasts that can be drawn not only among the individual works but also among the different genres to which they belong.
Canadian and world premières, international collaborations and innovative multi-media presentations are only some of the highlights of the Festival, which also includes many free events, artistic residencies and an extensive program of educational and community outreach. As before, local artists and companies will take part in the Festival alongside their counterparts from across Canada and throughout the world.
WORLD PREMIERES
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- Kronos Quartet and Tanya Tagaq - Grammy-winning, genre-bending ensemble, Kronos Quartet present Nunavut, which includes a spectacular musical collaboration with groundbreaking Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq and a world première piece by Hurdy-Gurdy, commissioned by Luminato. Isabel Bader Theatre.
- Mikel Rouse Trilogy - American composer and performer Mikel Rouse's innovative multi-media opera trilogy, presented for the first time in repertory. Fifteen years in the making, these three sensational pieces include: Failing Kansas, a one-man show inspired by the murders and men at the heart of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood; Dennis Cleveland, in which Rouse transforms the landscape of trash-talk TV into rock poetry; and The End of Cinematics, a "hyper-real" 3-D movie live on stage. Failing Kansas: The Factory Theatre. Dennis Cleveland: Toronto Film School Studio. The End of Cinematics: Bluma Appel Theatre.
- Rocket and the Queen of Dreams - Roseneath Theatre, in association with Puppetmongers Theatre, uses a brilliant fusion of shadow theatre, puppetry, music and live performance to create this astonishing journey into the dream world of a young boy. Written by internationally acclaimed playwright David S. Craig, with puppet design by David Powell and a full original score by Richard M. Sacks. Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People.
- Sanctuary Song - A dynamic intersection of opera and dance by Toronto artists Marjorie Chan and Abigail Richardson. An Asian elephant, poached at a young age from the jungles of Indonesia, recalls her remarkable life as her keeper leads her on a journey to sanctuary in the hills of Tennessee. Presented in partnership with Tapestry New Opera Works and Theatre Direct Canada. Berkeley Street Theatre.
- Where the Blood Mixes - Canadian First Nations playwright Kevin Loring's deeply personal story about three people from the N'lakapmux nation of Lytton, B.C. Where the Blood Mixes speaks about the emptiness we desperately try to fill in our hearts, our longing for love and our return to a place within ourselves that we can call home. Co-commissioned by Luminato and the Vancouver Playhouse. The Factory Theatre.
CANADIAN PREMIERES
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- A Midsummer Night's Dream - Director Tim Supple's internationally acclaimed South Asian production of Shakespeare's classic play. A ravishing and enchanting Dream as you've never seen it before, Supple's production showcases the astonishing skills of 23 dancers, street acrobats, martial arts experts, musicians, actors and performers from across India and Sri Lanka, and is performed in seven languages besides English: Tamil, Malayalam, Sinhalese, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi and Sanskrit. Varsity Arena.
- Black Watch - The National Theatre of Scotland's critically acclaimed international theatre sensation. Hurtling from a pool room in Fife to an armoured wagon in Iraq, Black Watch is based on recent interviews conducted by playwright Gregory Burke - winner of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain's Best Play (Theatre) award - with former soldiers who served in Iraq. Viewed through the eyes of those on the ground, Black Watch reveals what it means to be part of the legendary Scottish regiment, what it means to be part of the war on terror and what it means to make the journey home again. In its five-star review, The Herald wrote, "Black Watch is an astonishing artistic whirlwind. The world must see this play. Immediately." Location TBA.
- City of Abstracts and Nowhere and Everywhere at the Same Time - Famed choreographer William Forsythe is celebrated for reorienting the practice of ballet into a dynamic 21st-century art form. The Forsythe Company's City of Abstracts projects and then distorts the movements of passers-by onto a giant screen, resulting in an unconscious choreography. In Nowhere and Everywhere at the Same Time, a group of performers orient themselves around a series of hanging pendulums, resulting in interpretations personal and scientific, crazed and categorical. Locations TBA.
- Homeland - A new project from acclaimed American multimedia performance artist Laurie Anderson. A "concert-poem," Homeland questions the current fears of Americans, their obsession with security and their increasing loneliness and loss of freedom. Winner of the 2007 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize and the first artist-in- residence at NASA, Anderson is internationally recognized for her groundbreaking use of technology. Commissioned by Luminato and The Barbican Centre, London; Cal Performances at UC Berkeley; Melbourne International Arts Festival; Society for the Performing Arts, Houston, Texas; and the University of Florida, Gainesville. The Music Hall.
- Mark Morris Dance Group - Leading contemporary choreographer Mark Morris brings his Brooklyn-based Mark Morris Dance Group to Canada for the first time in 10 years. This Luminato Artist Residency will include:
- Mozart Dances - Inspired by the timeless music of Mozart, Mozart Dances features 16 dancers performing against the bold backdrops of British artist Howard Hodgkins and accompanied live by members of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra. The New York Times hailed the piece as "a masterpiece...one of Mr. Morris's grandest achievements." MacMillan Theatre.
- Love Song Waltzes/New Love Song Waltzes - Morris's ravishing and popular ballets set to Brahms's Liebesliederwalzer, op.52, and Neue Liebesliederwalzer, op. 65, paint a revealing picture of love in our time, with fleeting portraits of despair, comfort, ardour and loneliness, as well as relationships of every kind and size. These pieces, never before seen in Canada, are accompanied on the program by a performance of Grand Duo, one of the group's most popular works. MacMillan Theatre.
- Violet Caverns/All Fours - One of Morris's instant classics, All Fours features 12 dancers performing to Bartok's String Quartet no. 4. It is paired with Violet Cavern, a dance for 15 accompanied by a live score composed and performed by dynamic jazz collective The Bad Plus. MacMillan Theatre.
- Slow Dancing - Photographer David Michalek's series of 43 larger-than-life, hyper-slow-motion video portraits of dancers and choreographers from around the world. Displayed on multiple giant screens, each subject's five-second movement unfolds gesture by barely perceptible gesture into 10 minutes of extreme slow motion, enabling the viewer to share in the simplest of movements. Of its acclaimed installation at Lincoln Center, The New York Times wrote: "At this scale and speed, everything the dancer does has an air of the miraculous." Co-commissioned by Luminato, the LA Music Centre and Sadler's Wells, London. Location TBA.
CELEBRATIONS
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- Light on Your Feet - Stretch your legs and dance Light on Your Feet over a series of evenings at Yonge-Dundas Square. The public square will transform into a huge open-air dance hall, where live bands will take the beat to the street, celebrating different musical genres each night. Early-evening lessons in fancy footwork will be offered, making these the ultimate dance parties for all ages and skill levels. Yonge-Dundas Square.
- Opening Weekend - The Festival's Opening Weekend Celebrations will feature a variety of free programming and accidental encounters with art, and will provide audiences with a multitude of opportunities to participate.
- Opening Night Concert - Light on Your Feet kicks off with a spectacular concert headlined by a leading swing orchestra and all-star soloists. Hear music from around the world, move to the rhythms of the night and share the experience with friends and family as this free outdoor concert and dance party spills into the streets. Yonge-Dundas Square.
- Opening Weekend Concerts
- Funk Fest - Nathan Phillips Square will come alive Saturday afternoon with Luminato's Funk Fest, featuring popular funk bands and dancers. Nathan Phillips Square.
- Queen West Celebration - After Yorkville's summer of love, Toronto's artist scene moved south to Queen Street West. The 1970s saw the birth of an era best known for New Wave and Punk music, a movement centred on Queen West's iconic music venues, Grange Park and the Ontario College of Art and Design. Join Luminato as we celebrate the original era of Queen West cool through music, style and visual art. Queen West area.
- Scottish Music Festival - Enjoy the distinctive music of Scotland and discover how Canadian artists have put their own stamp on it. This show will set the scene for a later viewing of the National Theatre of Scotland's Black Watch down the street. Yonge-Dundas Square.
- Closing Weekend - Luminato's Closing Weekend will move the Celebrations southward to Toronto's waterfront, with the Luminato Link boat and TTC bus shuttle providing convenient links between venues:
- Harbourfront Centre's Luminat'eau - a lakeside celebration of the many water-based festivals and carnivals throughout the world. Building on the success of last year's Carnivalissima, and inspired by the cultures represented in the 2008 Festival and the themes that emerge from it, Luminat'eau will feature both large-scale artistic works and community-engaged collaborative spectacle.
- Luminato at the Historic Distillery District - The Young Centre for the Performing Arts will build on the success of last year's program celebrating emerging artists and youth leadership. Multidisciplinary performances, live creation of visual art, workshops and community symposia will pepper the theatres and laneways in the Historic Distillery District as the next generation of Toronto's arts leaders mix with local and international artists.
ARTIST RESIDENCIES
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- Dan Zanes and Friends - Dan Zanes, former lead singer and songwriter for the legendary rock and roll band The Del Fuegos, and his band perform exuberant, irresistible handmade music for enthusiastic crowds of kids and kids at heart. Drawing on a wealth of musical traditions, Zanes, his band and his surprising and eclectic special guests, create a rollicking "Woodstock for Kids," including exuberant American traditional songs, dance classics and smart, inventive originals. Zanes's week-long residency will provide an opportunity to engage families and communities through a variety of sing-alongs, workshops, question-and-answer sessions and other related events. Music Hall and locations throughout the city.
- Mark Morris Dance Group - Mark Morris's internationally acclaimed dance company will take part in a comprehensive one-week Luminato Artist Residency, which will include the Canadian première performances of Mozart Dances, Love Song Waltzes/New Love Song Waltzes and All Fours/Violet Cavern, as well as extensive community outreach initiatives including pre-Festival workshops and school visits.
EXPERIENCES
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The 10 days of Luminato provide the Festival-goer with a total sensory experience. In addition to all the events and celebrations already mentioned above, we invite you to see, hear, feel, move and share, in a multitude of ways.
- See
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From The End of Cinematics to City of Abstracts, Luminato presents visual spectacle in a breathtaking variety of forms. These will also include:
- StreetScape - Blank, vacant, abandoned and derelict walls are re- imagined as monumental canvases as Toronto becomes host to some of the world's best large-scale wall painting, drawing and street art. Locations throughout central Toronto and along the waterfront
will transform into a new type of exhibition space. In association with the Art Gallery of Ontario. Locations TBA.
- Colour... For the End of Time (Messiaen Project) - In celebration of Olivier Messiaen's 100th anniversary, the Gryphon Trio's presentation of the Quartet for the End of Time brings art together with science in an experience that reveals remarkable connections between sound and colour. Utilizing references to colour and sound association made by Messiaen in his works and writings centred on his fascination with synesthesia, the performance will feature a multimedia representation of the colours associated to the chords and modes in Messiaen's work. The performance will also include a discussion of the science behind synesthesia, led by local scholars.
- Hear
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The beat of Toronto's many cultures, including those of South Asia and Canada's First Nations, drive such performances as Where the Blood Mixes, Sanctuary Song and A Midsummer Night's Dream. That beat is also heard in:
- The Ecstasy of Rita Joe - A 40th-anniversary reading of the acclaimed drama by George Ryga. One of the first Canadian plays to address issues relating to Aboriginal people, The Ecstasy of Rita Joe uses song, monologues and tableaux to tell the story of a young Aboriginal woman who comes to the city. In partnership with the Vancouver Playhouse. The Factory Theatre.
- Spotlight on New South Asian Writing - An evening of cross- generational voices and discussion interwoven with musical performance centring on ideas of exile and belonging. Hosted by award-winning Toronto author Shyam Selvadurai (Funny Boy), with Daljit Nagra (winner of the 2007 Forward Poetry Prize in England) and others. Location TBA.
- Feel
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Such works as Black Watch, Homeland and Failing Kansas raise timely questions about war, tradition and technology. No less powerful in their discussion of contemporary issues are:
- The Fiddle and the Drum - Luminato and The National Ballet of Canada present the Alberta Ballet in The Fiddle and the Drum. A collaboration between renowned singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell and Alberta Ballet Artistic Director Jean Grand-Maître, the piece explores their thoughts on a series of modern themes, including the environment and world conflict. The Fiddle and the Drum features 25 dancers, 12 songs and projections of Mitchell's striking paintings, and will be presented with two other pieces performed by The National Ballet of Canada: Etudes and the second detail. Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.
- The Glass Eye - The English debut of Quebec theatre creator Marie Brassard. Devised around an existing work by Toronto actor Louis Negin, The Glass Eye is a play within a play inspired by an improbable meeting and a celebration of the mixing of cultures and generations. Brassard's distinctive work, both as a solo artist and with acclaimed director Robert Lepage, is known for its mixing of genres and blurring of boundaries and has been presented to critical acclaim around the world. Location TBA.
- The Political Graphic Novel - An evening of literature, film and images that will bring together a unique combination of writers who focus on war and politics through the medium of illustration. With Miriam Katin (We Are on Our Own) and others. Location TBA.
- Move
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From the open-air dance party, Light on Your Feet, to the trio of performances presented by the Mark Morris Dance Group, Luminato 2008 invites you to surrender body and soul to the rhythms of life. Among the many other dance- and movement-related performances presented will be:
- Etudes/the second detail - Two dance classics to be presented with The Fiddle and the Drum and performed by the National Ballet of Canada. One of the most popular of all ballets, Harald Landers's Etudes is an affectionate tribute to the art form of classical dance. Meanwhile, the second detail rounds out the Festival's offering of William Forsythe with a playful and physical work that alters one's perception of just what dance is. Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.
- Share
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Active participation, accidental encounters with art, festivities for kids and a wide array of celebrations and free events make Luminato an experience to be shared:
- Celebration of Isaac Bashevis Singer - The Nobel Prize-winning writer and master of the short story will be fêted by contemporary authors who are considered to be carrying on his tradition. With award-winning American writer Dara Horn (The World to Come) and others. Location TBA.
- Diaspora Dialogues: Launch of TOK Book 3 - Luminato, in association with Diaspora Dialogues, presents the launch of the third in a series of city-centric anthologies, showcasing the emerging literary voices of Toronto. With Judy Fong Bates (Midnight at the Dragon Café), Giller nominee Alissa York (Effigy), poet Molly Peacock and playwright Yvette Nolan. Location TBA.
- Festival of the Short Story - Luminato, in partnership with the Toronto Public Library, presents a celebration of short stories to be programmed in library branches across the GTA. With Elyse Friedman (Long Story Short) and other authors TBA. Various Toronto Public Library branches across the city.
- Mille Femmes - A monumental photo exhibition by French artist Pierre Maraval featuring portraits of 1,000 creative women from all fields of the arts and culture in Toronto, celebrating the city's leaders and future visionaries. Mille Femmes is part of a global series developed by Maraval, who hopes to have created a tribute to women of all races and cultures throughout the world by 2015. Allen Lambert Galleria, Brookfield Place.
ILLUMINATIONS
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- The Luminato Illuminations program is a series of lectures, panels, public workshops and open houses intended to complement and enrich each Festival-goer's experience. The 2008 Illuminations will offer further insight into Festival themes such as fact and fiction, art outside of traditional spaces, modern perspectives on South Asia and First Nations, artists' responses to contemporary issues and the role of dance in life.
- The 2008 Illuminations will take place at venues across the city, throughout the Festival's 10 days.
EDUCATION AND OUTREACH
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Organically linked with the curatorial vision for the Festival, Luminato Education and Outreach Programs engage and inspire students, teachers and the community through participation in interactive and inclusive encounters with the arts. In 2008, these programs will feature performances and artist involvement from Rocket and the Queen of Dreams, Sanctuary Song, Dan Zanes and Friends, Mark Morris Dance Group, StreetScape, The Political Graphic Novel and others. Luminato's Education and Outreach programs are generously supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
- Education Programs - The Festival's Education Programs support the classroom curriculum while providing opportunities for experiential learning through workshops, student performances, study guides and Q&A sessions.
- Community Outreach - Luminato's Outreach Programs offer increased accessibility to the Festival through interactive programming and free public events for youth, families and the broad community.
- Luminato Volunteers - Volunteers play a vital role in the success of Luminato, acting as ambassadors and engaging with guests throughout the Festival's 10 days. More than 500 volunteers were a part of the inaugural Festival in 2007.
All programming is subject to change. Please visit luminato.com for regular program updates.
Tickets for selected Luminato events go on sale in April 2008.
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