Luminato Returns For Its Third Exciting Year.

Combining Many Art Forms Makes Luminato A Well Rounded Festival

May 25, 2009

The 3rd edition of the Luminato festival will soon takeover many areas of the Toronto landscape and is a true indicator of how hot The Toronto summer scene gets.

The Luminato festival entered the Toronto festival scene three years ago and quickly captivated the hearts of Torontonians and visitors to the city alike.

Showcasing The Works And Paying Tribute To Canadians In The Arts

The inaugural festival in 2007 attracted over a millions visitors to about one hundred events playing in various theatres, parks, squares, clubs and galleries. Many of these events were free and included a lot of world premieres.

Highlights of the 2007 festival included composer Philip Glass and a tribute to Canadian icon Leonard Cohen. The Walker Project took place at the Factory Theatre, where they staged three of Playwright’s George F. Walker's plays. There was also a visit from the Polish Theatre TR Warszawa, who exhibited a Polish version of Walker’s Risk Everything.

Luminato that year also coincided with the opening of the ROM Crystal that was donated by businessman entrepreneur Michael Lee Chin; it provided a great boost to the festival with the spectacle it provided.

Luminato's Second Year

The festival continued to stamp its effect on Toronto in its second year with many shows at Dundas Square. These included an evening of swingin’ jazz featuring the Count Basie Orchestra, with the spotlight on a 14-year-old singing sensation from Montreal named Nikki Yanofsky.

Massey Hall was the venue where many of Canada’s leading performers showcased their love for the Canadian songbook in a show hosted by Kim Stockwood and Damhnait Doyle. The Kronos Quartet played at the festival in 2008 so to did Luke Doucet, Molly Johnson, Alex Cuba and many more. There were many world premiers in 2008 and many shows went on to dazzle audiences on other world stages.

Needing to Recover from SARS

The Idea for the Luminato festival came out of a need to help Toronto recoup its image after the SARS outbreak in 2003. The city was reeling from bad press, lack of tourism and the need to get back on the world stage as a city that was safe and fun to visit.

So in the spring of 2003 festival founders, Tony Gagliano and David Pecaut met at a restaurant and began to talk about the festival that took flight two years later and has grown in very short and quick time into a festival of that has gained world attention

Festival 2009

Luminato 2009 kicks off June 5 and for the next ten days Torontonians, visitors and friends will see another fine display of creativity. There will be music: The great bluesman Taj Mahal will be there; so too will be the Derek Trucks band.

Canadian legend Randy Bachman, formerly of the Guess Who, will be there, Guitarist Bill Frisell will join stars like Holly Cole, Roxane Potvin, Carole Pope, Harry Manx and many more at Massey Hall to pay tribute to Canadian music Icon Neil Young in this year’s version of the Canadian Songbook.

The theatre aspect of the festival will feature two plays making their North American Premieres, Lipsynch and Zisele. There is a play about one of Canada’s greatest guitarists, Lenny Breau, called 5 O Clock Bells and one inspired by Edgar Allen Poe called Nevermore.

Dance is hot and creative with the Nederlands Dans Theatre, Red Sky’s Tono and a genre-bending, ground-breaking version of Carmen produced by the National Ballet of Canada. In between one can check out some photography or any of the installations set up in the downtown region. Or you could drop in on an author as they read some Gothic or world fiction, all geared to let you use your imagination.

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