Arts Near You: May 5th - May 19th
Stratford Festival, MOCA, Toronto Summer Music, The Cannopy Salon + more!
Spring is finally springing, (or is it sprung, or sprunging?) ─ either way, welcome back to the Arts Near You Newsletter! As arts organizations wind down their Fall/Winter seasons, May can easily be underestimated for its arts offerings. That’s why we’ve scoured the scenery to bring you hidden gems and must-see events happening near you. This issue of ANY features exclusive interview-excerpts from the theatre and music festivals ─ and exhibit spaces ─ that are getting ready for the spring and summer seasons.
We also want to invite you to our first ever Cannopy Salon, happening at The Tranzac this upcoming Saturday May 10th at 7pm!
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Cannopy Magazine is delighted to announce our partnership with The Tranzac!
Join us on May 10 at 7:30 as we launch our series of intimate free* concert experiences featuring local artists and international performers touring through the city. For this first inning, we’re presenting performances and interviews with opera singers, folk artists, and poets. And we’ll be taking questions from the audience — that means you!
*The Cannopy Salon is a free non-ticketed event hosted at The Tranzac. The Tranzac is a not-for-profit organization and relies on the generous support of members and donors to operate. Become a member here! And find out about the other residencies at The Tranzac here.
Director and Choreographer Donna Feore is no stranger to the Stratford Festival. In the wake of last year’s highly successful run of Something Rotten!, she has returned this year to direct a reimagining of Annie. Together with dance arranger and orchestrator David Davin, she has taken the show’s most famous songs, and filled them with movement and dancing that is wholly new. The result is as vibrant as it is touching, says the festival’s Artistic Director, Antoni Cimolino, and serves as a refreshing complement to the festival’s 2025 program of straight plays, which includes As You Like It, Sense and Sensibility, Macbeth, The Winter’s Tale, and The Art of War, to name a few.
Discover Stratford 2025 today and look back at our coverage of Stratford 2024.
MOCA’s Spring lineup brings an eclectic set of works from Jessica Stockholder, Justin Ming Yong, Margaux Williamson─plus an encore appearance of Alex Da Corte’s fan favourite exhibit from the fall, Ear Worm. Stockholder integrates a majority of the first floor into her site-specific installation, The Squared Circle: Ringing, with a life-sized boxing ring as the focal point. The ring, like much of the exhibit, is striking in its colour pairings: the canvas is an unhemmed salmon-coloured fabric, while the ropes are a glossy yellow. Stockholder’s iconic use of unconventional materials is clear, with puzzle mats sticking out from underneath the salmon canvas, and in a nearby piece, neon pink cords tangled with lightbulbs and lamp wires. No wall or tile goes unconsidered: bright shapes and poetic tidbits hide in plain sight along the exhibit walls.
CANNOPY x Jessica Stockholder
CAN | Walking around the first floor, it became difficult to tell where the museum’s architecture ended and your exhibition began. You’ve completely transformed the space, right up to the front desk. What is your process like for getting familiar with and then metamorphosing MOCA's unique space?
JS ─ I orchestrate an experience that raises questions about frame, edge, boundary, and autonomy. This experience rattles with metaphor in relation to so many parts of life. The Squared Circle: Ringing is distinct from the space and also inseparable from it. I thoroughly enjoyed placing the monitor with the shaking hydrangeas next to the air vent of similar proportions! The recorded wind and the real wind coming through the vent, in concert with one another.
The Squared Circle: Ringing is on view at MOCA from April 17 — August 3, 2025.
In December of 2021, Tapestry Opera and Nightwood Theatre announced to their patrons that after nearly 20-years in Toronto’s Distillery Historic District, they were being displaced later that year. This came as a shock to both organisations, and to the other members of the Artscape collective, who were under the impression that their lease was secure until at least 2023.
Tapestry and Nightwood appealed to their community. They set out to create a new performance venue in the heart of the city, at 877 Yonge Street, and fund it with the help of their audiences. Their “take a seat” campaign invited donors to contribute $877.00 in exchange for their name on a seat, permanently. In June, they had reached 65% of their goal: at the end of March 2025, they presented their opening concert at the newly named Nancy and Ed Jackman Performance Centre. ─Continue reading
The Exit Interview ── Violinist Jonathan Crow has been the Artistic Director of Toronto Summer Music for nine years, just one year short of half of the festival’s lifetime. The implications of a relationship that long are immense—Crow and the festival have grown and learned a great deal from each other, have overcome obstacles like the pandemic, and have expanded far beyond what audiences might have expected of them. Crow, who is also first violin of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, likens the running of a festival of this scale to the functioning of an orchestra. It’s an organism in which roles are well defined, a unified vision is absolutely crucial, and the whole is always and inevitably greater than the sum of its parts. As he prepares to take his final bow at the end of this summer, he first must see the festival through one final edition: their 20th, no less.
Against the Grain Theatre’s Identity is a new song cycle created by Juno Award-winning composer Dinuk Wijeratne, and celebrated poet Shauntay Grant. Presented at the Marilyn and Charles Baillie Theatre on Berkeley Street, Identity combines Western classical traditions with global influences and personal narratives, exploring how we choose to define ourselves. Performed by Grammy Award-winning Baritone Elliot Madore and directed by AtG’s Founding Artistic Director Joel Ivany, this world premiere expands upon AtG’s original 2022 Identity film project with new songs and staging. Identity premieres 8pm May 23 & 24, at the Marilyn and Charles Baillie Theatre
On May 23, 2025 at 7:30 and 9:00PM, Toronto-based contemporary classical concert series Slow Rise Music is partnering with guest curator Alexandra Fol and Charles Street Video to present multimedia showcase Where the Eye Meets the Ear at CSV’s studio space, near Dupont and Ossington. Tying Where the Eye Meets the Ear together is a focus on the overlap between chamber music, visual art, film, and poetry. Audiences will see the translation of video into light, sound into video, and visual art into music in a feast for the senses crafted by some of Canada's most unique musical innovators.
Experience the world premiere of Sand Flight, from internationally renowned choreographer Ingri Fiksdal. Eight dancers and a 50-person choir descend on a massive sand dune under the Gardiner Expressway for a powerful performance that speculates on climates-to-come, where shade-worshipping is the new normal. Sand Flight runs from June 12-15 at 250 Fort York Blvd Toronto.
Watch Grand Tour on MUBI
It is the beginning of 1918, and Edward (Gonçalo Waddington), a minor English diplomat in Burma (modern-day Myanmar), wanders sullenly through a rainy Rangoon, dreaming of escape. It is not the destruction of World War I that weighs on him. Rather, it is the impending arrival of Molly (Crista Alfaiate), his fiancée of seven years, that terrifies him. In a moment of panic, Edward ditches a bouquet of bird of paradise flowers—a welcome gift for his betrothed—and takes flight, boarding a ship for Singapore and leaving word that Molly should return to London. Determined to marry, Molly instead follows Edward to Singapore and beyond, embarking on a sweeping journey through Southeast and East Asia. Thus begins Grand Tour, the sixth and latest feature by Portuguese filmmaker Miguel Gomes.
Stream Grand Tour for free on MUBI today with a CANNOPY 30-day discount!
Off The Record: Peter Gregson on Peter Gregson
What’s in Gregson’s head reveals itself to be an assortment of elegant melodies. The cellist and composer draws inspiration from Felix Mendelssohn’s songs without words – his cello becomes a singing voice, an extension of himself. ─Continue reading
Colour Me Senseless: Helen Beard
There are no innuendos here. London-based visual artist Helen Beard uses vivid colours to portray explicit moments of sexual intercourse. This sensuality is most evident in her painting and needlepoint, but Beard’s ethos of intense colour pairings to evoke orgasmic synergies spreads across all of the mediums in which she works. Her paintings are electric precisely because they’re primary. They manage to reverse-engineer the concept of intimacy back to its first principle, that of opposites attracting to create compelling contrasts. At a first glance, it’s difficult to grasp what your eye is drawn to: is it the colour, or the content? Either way, these vibrant complexions come together in arousing harmony. ─Continue reading
Showing is Telling: How Myth of Man reimagines interactive cinema
The Winans’ are reaching for something beyond simply keeping in step with the statistically-derived conventions of commercially viable cinema. They seem to be starting a cinematic conversation that we’re forgetting how to have: one of intimate and urgent whispers between filmmaker and audience. A leap of creative faith, a blind trust that there is still an appetite for awe and wonder beyond the paltry offerings of the almighty algorithm. ─Continue reading
Phantom Details: Agata Wierzbickav
The art of Warsaw-based illustrator Agata Wierzbicka often subverts expectations. Her portraits frequently hide her subjects’ faces, while her fashion drawings leave most of an ensemble up to the imagination. These creative choices align well with her preference for minimalism. Wierzbicka believes her architectural training has also influenced her creative process, teaching her to subtract unnecessary elements until a satisfactory purity of form is revealed. The omitted elements in her work are, however, full of phantom details. ─Continue reading
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Menagerie Market | May 25 | TORONTO ─ “A place to find a curated celebration of artists, makers, vintage curators — right in the heart of the city.” 19 Kensington Ave.
Probably Theatre Collective: Probably Poetry | May 6 | TORONTO ─ “Come join us for our last residency show: a special edition of Probably Poetry. Featuring the work of Allie Graham, china virus (alena ng), Dylan Tate-Howarth, Khashayar Mohammadi, Laura Gallagher-Doucette, Leah CL, and Melly!” TRANZAC
Tonia Di Risio: Gather | April 23 - May 17 | TORONTO ─ “Tonia Di Risio reimagines functional objects as art, capturing the essence of time, place, and ritual in the kitchen. Bold lines, tracings, and playful colours transform traditional utensils, encouraging you to see them anew.” The Red Head Gallery
Artist Talk: Brendan Lee Satish Tang | May 15 | BURLINGTON ─ “Tang’s work explores issues of identity and the hybridization of our material and non-material culture while simultaneously expressing a love of both futuristic technologies and ancient traditions.” The Art Gallery of Burlington
Ecaustic Kintsugi Bowls | May 31 | ALTON ─ “Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery pieces with gold — a metaphor for embracing our flaws and imperfections. Participants will take home 2 encaustic kintsugi bowls. All electrical equipment,wax paint and supplies are provided. Previous encaustic experience is required.” Alton Mill Art Centre
Clay Wheel Workshop | May 2 - 24 | TORONTO ─ “Keep calm & spin on! Each person throws up to 2 bowls. Beginner friendly, no experience required! *Glazing is not included in the building price for all 2 part workshops.” The Danforth Art Studio
Cannopy Kudos is our shout-out for praiseworthy artists, organizations, and patrons whose good work is contributing to making Ontario’s arts ecosystem a healthier and more inclusive place to be.
Charlotte Siegel
Words by Eva Stone-Barney | Assistant Editor, Cannopy
Yes, Charlotte Siegel is a classical soprano currently singing her way across Canada, but we’re tipping our hats to her for more than just her vocal pyrotechnics. Originally from Toronto, Siegel has accumulated a number of accolades so far in her career: in 2021, she was named one of CBC’s “30 Hot Classical Musicians Under 30;” she was a member of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio from 2021-2024; and this summer she will take part in the prestigious Merola Opera Program, in San Francisco. Her stage credits have already included some of opera’s most famous roles for soprano, including Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, which she sang with the Canadian Opera Company, and, most recently, Musetta in Puccini’s beloved La Bohème (Manitoba Opera).
When she’s not on stage, Siegel implicates herself in the world of opera in another way: as one of the founders, and current co-manager of the Marigold Music Program (MMP). Founded in Toronto in 2021, the program exposes young people (aged 14-18) to music, providing them with the tools, support, and encouragement needed to experiment, and discover it for themselves. Its brilliance lies in its refusal to prescribe what classical music is (and isn’t) to these teenagers. Instead of directing them down one career path or another, or insisting they master a certain repertoire, the MMP simply opens the doors, revealing a wealth of knowledge, access to industry professionals, and a space in which to make art.
The best part? It’s all completely free.
Programs like this one make Southern Ontario an exciting artistic landscape now, and will continue to for years to come. Kudos to Charlotte Siegel, an opera artist working for her community both on and off stage.
Steve Reich Collected Works
These days the works of American Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Steve Reich can be heard nightly in concert halls and conservatories throughout the world ─ most of his listeners, however, first encountered Reich through recordings. Born in New York, and raised both there and in Los Angeles, Reich was part of the 1960s vanguard that broke through and away from abstract serialist soundscapes with a new American modernism. Through his recordings — the latest being a formidable 27-disc curated box set, which will be released by Nonesuch Records on March 14th — Reich awakened broad interest in contemporary classical music, and his compositions forever influenced the way we listen, perform in ensembles, and perceive musical time. ─Continue reading
Stephan Moccio’s Legends, Myths and Lavender
When we think about legends and myths, we think about the timeless, about stories told and retold endlessly till they eventually become uprooted from linear chronology to achieve a universality that transcends time and place. The latest album from Canadian pianist, songwriter, producer, and composer Stephan Moccio meditates on humanity’s stories and inner worlds, in just under an hour of contemplative and emotionally earnest solo piano writing. Roman historian Sallustius wrote that “one may call the world a myth, in which bodies and things are visible, but souls and minds hidden.” Legends, Myth and Lavender invites a deep interiority that seeks to probe those hidden realms, evoking “classical, cinematic and modern images of the human condition.” ─Continue reading
Taste of Hong Kong | May 13-17 | TORONTO ─ “Come join Jackie for a snack-sized tasting class of Hong Kong’s best treats! Jackie will introduce you to famous foods such as curry fish balls, siu mai, and more, while sharing the highlights and history of Hong Kong.” Theatre Passe Muraille
Where the Eye Meets the Ear | May 23 | TORONTO ─ “Slow Rise Music is thrilled to work with guest curator Alexandra Fol. A Montreal-based composer and organist, Fol has created Where the Eye Meets the Ear to explore the intersections of visual and sonic art, which Fol has a unique relationship to as a pitch-colour synesthete.” Charles Street Video
The Encampments | May 23 | TORONTO ─ “On March 8, Palestine solidarity organizer Mahmoud Khalil became the face of the Trump administration’s assault on civil liberties when he was abducted by US federal agents. Filmed on the Columbia grounds as the students first made their stand, this collaboration between directors Kei Pritzker and Michael Workman is an eyewitness account of a movement that captured global attention.” Hot Docs
DECA: Alex Kaplan on Vinyl Gone Viral
For this installation of DECA—our inter-issue series inviting artists to curate top-ten lists—Alex Kaplan shares 10 albums she’s excited to hear on vinyl this spring.─Continue reading
Off the Record: Gabi Hartmann
INTERVIEW ─ On La femme aux yeux de sel, the emerging singer-songwriter delivers a melange of global music with a French touch─Continue reading
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