Our weekly roundup of the top five (virtual) things to do in Toronto on the weekend of March 18-21 includes livestream concerts, meditation and an acoustic version of a play by Cree writer Kenneth T. Williams.
Lido Pimienta
Back in early January, the city of Toronto announced a new livestream concert series called City Hall Live Spotlight. The idea was to film local artists playing around town at empty music venues, but when the city went into lockdown even virtual shows were forced to cancel. Now that Toronto has moved into the grey zone of COVID restrictions, empty-venue concerts are back – and so is City Hall Live Spotlight. The free Toronto livestream concert series kicks off with a performance by Lido Pimienta live from the Phoenix Concert Theatre. She’s fresh off a fantastic Grammy performance, and this could be even better.
March 18, 7:30 pm. Free. Facebook.com/CityHallLiveSpotlight
Molecular Meditation
Speaking of Lido Pimienta, one of her collaborators is launching an audio/visual meditation experience on the Toronto-based digital platform HUH, which features collaborations by artists in different cities based on different moods. For Molecular Medication, Mexico City-based visual artist Orly Anan, Toronto sound artist Brandon Miguel Valdivia and New York video artist Enrique Alba have teamed on a surreal yet calming 20-minute meditation video. The premiere will be followed by a performance at Long Winter (see below) on March 20.
March 19. Free. planethuh.com.
Long Winter TV
Toronto’s scene-uniting music and arts scene wraps up its virtual season this weekend with its final episode of Long Winter TV. This one is co-curated by Uma Nota and creative platform HUH and features performances from Laura Barrett, Jerusa Leão, Brandon Valdivia and more, plus art from Maylee Todd, José Contreras and others. One of the more creative and interesting virtual concerts you’ll watch all pandemic.
March 20, 8 pm. Free. Facebook.
The Herd – Acoustic
As part of its season of audio versions of its plays past and present, the Tarragon Theatre – in association with PlayME Podcast – presents an acoustic version of Cree writer Kenneth T. Williams’s play about what happens when twin white bisons are born on a First Nations ranch in Saskatchewan. The play, which was to have premiered in February of this year, features Ryan L. Cunningham, Tai Amy Grauman, Daniel Hanover Knight and others, and is directed by Kevin Loring.
Runs to March 25 at tarragontheatre.com.
Greetings From Isolation Virtual Film Festival
One year after Ontario declared a state of emergency in response to COVID, veteran film programmer Stacey Donen is launching a virtual film fest devoted to intimate portraits of artists in isolation. Greetings From Isolation will showcase work by 91 Canadian filmmakers across 13 programs. Each film was created with just home cameras and phones on zero budget. Some notable contributors include Matthew Rankin (The Twentieth Century), Katerina Cizek (Highrise), John Greyson (Lilies), Yuqi Kang (A Little Wisdom), Miryam Charles (Second Generation), among others.
Runs to April 5 at greetingsfromisolation.com.
