Charlotte Rampling, Laurie Anderson, David Byrne, Money Mark and the Malpaso Dance Company join Canadians Jason Collett, Nelly Furtado and Daniel MacIvor in this year’s Luminato 10-day lineup from June 19 to 28.
Two mini festivals help kick off the eclectic fest, which – as in previous years – includes music, theatre, dance, visual arts, literature, film, food, and more.
The Unsound Festival (June 19 to 20) has a global reputation for pushing the envelope in terms of electronic and experimental music. A special Unsound Toronto At Luminato will transform the Hearn Generating Station – that decommissioned power station east of Cherry Street and south of Lakeshore – into a showcase filled with technology, lasers and even smell.
Curated and commissioned by Mat Schulz and Malgorzata Plysa, Unsound includes the world premiere of Tim Hecker’s Ephemera, which brings scent and sound together. Intriguing.
Actor Charlotte Rampling and cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton team up for The Night Dances.
7 Monologues is a mini-festival of solo shows. Legendary actor Charlotte Rampling and renowned French cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton team up to perform works by musician Benjamin Britten and poet Sylvia Plath in The Night Dances, while our own Daniel MacIvor returns to the artform that made his name with Who Killed Spalding Gray? Other artists involved in 7 Monologues include musician Christine Fellows and visual artist Shary Boyle collaborating on Spell To Bring Lost Creatures Home, and artist Emilio Garcia Wehbi and Maricel Álvarez, the actor from the film Biutiful, in Dolor Exquisito (Exquisite Pain), about French artist Sophie Calle.
If you liked Argentine writer/director Mariano Pensotti’s cool play about film, Cineastas, at last year’s Luminato, you’ll want to check out El Pasado Es Un Animal Grotesco (June 19 to 21), an ambitious piece performed on a stage that rotates like a clock.
Argentina’s El Pasado Es Un Animal Grotesco is performed on a stage like a clock.
And Cuba’s contemporary dance troupe Malpaso Dance Company will add heat with their performances June 24 to 26, accompanied live by the jazz composer Arturo O’Farrill and his band.
My One Demand (June 25 to 27) is a live interactive film by the UK group Blast Theory about love that follows seven people taking a journey across Toronto. Our own Julian Richings stars in the cast, with more names to be announced soon. It’s filled in a single shot and will be streamed live online and in select cinemas. Even cooler, viewers can interact with the show, and possibly affect the outcome, via mobile devices.
And the always popular Late Night At The TSO, Luminato’s partnership with the Toronto Symphony, takes on Gustav Holst’s The Planets, on June 26, when the you-know-what should be musically aligned.
The festival hub will again be in David Pecaut Square, with a new venue called the Festival Shed which will house a cabaret lineup that’ll include Kid Koala, Taylor Mac, Bridget Everett and Jason Collett’s Basement Revue.
And the always popular TimesTalks series includes convos with Nelly Furtado, St. Vincent and Rampling.
For the complete lineup and ticket info (many events are free), contact luminato.com or call 416-368-4849.
