Don’t worry, summer isn’t over yet.

But you can already feel the season turning, the early sprigs of fall’s arts and culture calendar are starting to poke through, and this issue gets a head start on the harvest with a theatre focus running throughout. We’ve got Mary Francis Moore on Theatre Aquarius’s Sisters of ‘78, and André Sills in the title role of Stratford’s Othello nearly two decades after understudying the part.

Another highlight this issue: our ARTchitecture series continues with a look at Robert Lepage’s Le Diamant in Québec City, and we want your vote on which Southern Ontario landmark we cover next. We’ve also shuffled the layout a little this time, tucking The Cannopy List—handpicked shows, events, and job listings—down at the very end, so keep scrolling to get to the good stuff.

CANNOPY x Mary Francis Moore

Hamilton playwright Kristen Da Silva takes on the 1978 Fleck Strike in Centralia, Ontario, in Sisters of ‘78, an ensemble drama about the women who walked off a factory floor over unsafe conditions and harassment and, in doing so, split their own community down the middle. Directed by Theatre Aquarius’s Artistic Director, Mary Francis Moore, it’s a story about collective power built from the ground up, at the exact moment it costs the people fighting for it something real.

This production is based on the 1978 Fleck Strike in Centralia, Ontario—mostly female workers fighting for safer conditions, fair wages, and union security. Unions are a hot topic right now on both sides of the border. Were you conscious of that when you were programming it?

MFM — Yes, I was. Kristen Da Silva is a local playwright here in Hamilton, produced across the country, and I was looking for a project of hers to produce. Her agent mentioned she was working on something—it would be about a year until it was ready, and when it was, he’d let me know. Sure enough, he sent me a draft before the year was out. The play had originally been commissioned by the Blyth Festival because the action takes place in that area, and artistic director Gil Garratt had commissioned it. When I reached out to Gil for the rights, he said: what if you direct the premiere in Blyth and then take the production to Theatre Aquarius? So I directed it, and it just opened at Blyth.

I was embarrassed that I didn’t know this moment in Canadian history—I don’t think very many people do. The facts are extraordinary: hundreds of OPP officers deployed against 80 women who were striking, every arrested woman barred from returning to the picket line, some days only 30 women on the line, all of it costing over a million dollars to attempt to stop them from winning an increase of 45 cents an hour. But beyond that extraordinary story, the fact that it takes place in 1978—a banger year for music, incredible fashion—and that it’s been placed in a town like Hamilton by a Hamilton playwright, it’s just a gift to program. She’s a fantastic playwright, and I had a great time directing it.

CANNOPY x André Sills

Directed by Haysam Kadri and running at the Tom Patterson Theatre through September 27, this Othello leans into the play’s oldest, ugliest engine: a marriage and a career destroyed not by external forces but by one man’s calculated manipulation of everyone around him. André Sills takes the title role opposite Krystin Pellerin’s Desdemona and Evan Buliung’s Iago, in a production that remains unflinching in its handling of the play’s racism.

There’s a line in the play—“he is more fair than he is black”—that could almost read as progressive by modern standards, but also complicated, since it separates fairness of character from Blackness of identity. How do you sit with a line like that?

AS — The truth is, fair and Black could each have two meanings—fair as in colour, or fair as in fairness. So it’s an interesting one. Every time it’s said, it’s just like, “I don’t know how I feel about that one.” How many times are we in the world where we see white folks trying to compliment us, but within their intent also kind of insulting us at the same time? It turns into a moment of microaggression, but the intent is to compliment. It’s the state we’re in—people trying to come to us with a sense of “I see you,” but not quite seeing us fully as of yet. And I think we’re so in a time now where people are trying to see us, but they aren’t quite seeing us fully as of yet.

What does it mean to you to be able to tell the story of Othello at Stratford specifically?

AS — I think one of the things that I’ve said to some people at times is that we as people of colour over the years here, and I think even at the Shaw Festival, have been given permission to tell their stories. But it’s only recently that they are giving us permission to tell our own stories. There’s a part of me that, in 2026, stepping into this part of Othello—with my journey from 2005 to now—I don’t take this opportunity lightly.

I did, in 2007, actually understudy Philip Akin, who played Othello here, in the old version of the Tom Patterson. At the time it was like, “I know I can play these parts.” But they had set me in a box. And I was also able to see where they were at the time, at that point, in seeing people like us and knowing, or not knowing, how to use us. I know what the place was before, and I know where I would like it to go.

That old tale our parents tell us: “You have to be better, you have to be better.” Failure is not an option. As a rugby player, the way I protected myself was, “I’m gonna hit you harder than you can hit me.” I play with that same sort of intensity on the stage. I’m putting all my heart and soul into it.

Issue 16 invites you to take a long, slow walk — through boardwalks, backstreets, and creative nooks — where the coffee is hot, the leaves are turning, and your favourite song plays on loop. Across 100 pages, and spanning twelve editorial series, we encounter over 30 artists who redefine presence: from Toronto’s dance and jazz scenes to London’s Afro-fusion rhythms and Paris’s experimental stages.

ISSUE 16

ARTCHITECTURE: Le Diamant

Art and architecture go hand in hand, so with this series we want to capture some of the architectural marvels and blunders that contribute to Southern Ontario’s increasingly dynamic cityscapes. Along the way we hope you’ll discover new buildings worth travelling to, or perhaps a new lens on places that you’ve always overlooked.

QUEBEC CITY — A dynamic cultural beacon revived from the past, repurposed for the present, and designed for the future

Words by Isabella Elias
Photography By Stephane Groleau - Courtesy Of Ex Machina

Nested in the crux of the Upper and Lower Towns of Old Québec, Québec City, echoes of the past and visions of the future gleam along the faceted glass atrium of Le Diamant performing arts centre. Standing at the cultural intersection of the city, the architecture of the performance centre is a medley of historical and modern aesthetics. For Robert Lepage — actor, writer, designer, stage director, and Artistic Director of the multimedia company Ex Machina — the concept of Le Diamant is a tool that allows for the revitalization and maximal dissemination of Ex Machina’s creative output on the world stage. Originally operating out of La Caserne, an old fire hall, the 25-year-old company began conceiving of Le Diamant (“The Diamond”) as the technical and spatial demands of their productions began pushing the limits of their relatively sizable outpost. The result of this conceptual exploration is an audacious multifunctional powerhouse of the arts, dazzlingly engraved on the epicentre of Canada’s Francophone history.

HISTORY

The multifaceted shape of the diamond facade reflects the multidisciplinary mission of Ex Machina’s production mandate. Aside from being as shiny and expensive as its namesake, Le Diamant is likewise a reference to Cap Diamant, the historical cliff that Upper Town is etched into. It was dubbed so by French explorer Jacques Cartier when he arrived in Canada in 1534 and mistook the the glistening quartz he found there for diamonds. Upon bringing these stones back to King Francis I in 1541 — where their legitimacy was immediately dismissed by jewellers of court — the idiom, “as fake as a Canadian Diamond,” was birthed. This vicinity of Old Québec was under French rule until the British acquired it in September 1759 and gradually shaped it into an industrial city. It was split into an Upper Town for the well-to-do, and a Lower Town where the working class lived and worked. At the intersection point between the Upper and Lower towns, the Montcalm Market Hall was founded as a meeting place for all residents to buy essential goods. This convergence of cultures, class, and public utility led to the construction of one of Canada’s first YMCAs, right across the street from the market. Boasting a swimming pool, bowling alley, gym, horse racetrack, book clubs, and art classes, this YMCA became a multifunctional junction where sports and cultural programs thrived together.

Seemingly destined to become a cultural hub, a rapid succession of initiatives and building projects eventually shuttered the market, and a music hall took the place of fruit and vegetable carts. The YMCA relocated, and the building was demolished in the process for the sake of an art deco entrance. The next phase of this bustling junction, beginning in the 1950s, was as the entertainment district of Québec City, the heart of its nightlife, replete with bars, restaurants, speakeasies, studios, and all manners of informal get-togethers. With the development of the suburbs, political turmoil, and an economic downtown in the 1970s, this cultural hub stagnated and receded from its festive peak. A true revival of this scene would have to wait until the 90s, when Jean-Paul L’Allier took office as Québec City’s mayor with an eager mandate to rejuvenate the city’s arts and culture economy.

One of L’Allier’s ideas was to cultivate Québec as the premier intersection of culture and technology, a so-called techno-cultural centre. For inspiration, he turned to Spain’s Bilbao, a city also renowned for its shipbuilding industry, with a similar population and socioeconomic transformations. Beginning with the renovation of the old YMCA, the city set out for ambitious architectural projects that could rival Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum. With the creation of tax incentives, high-tech companies began to integrate into the city, inviting a crowd that supported a more contemporary culture. When he caught wind that Ex Machina was looking for a bigger playground for their creative explorations, he didn’t miss the opportunity. The mayor encouraged Ex Machina’s purchase of the old YMCA, Cinéma de Paris, a couple of restaurants, and a punk rock bar─all of which connected in a diagonal line from Upper to Lower Town, where Le Diamant now beams.

CONSTRUCTION

After 10 years, three mayors, four premiers, and two prime ministers, Lepage and his team had amassed all the prerequisite permits, approvals, and investors to finally begin to erect Le Diamant. The design of Le Diamant was meant to represent two ideas: an emblem of a historic culture, and innovative explorations at the intersection of art and technology. Construction, however, proved to be complicated. At 414 years old, Québec City is one of the oldest cities in North America and with its protection by UNESCO, construction was a frequently interrupted process. The building next to the YMCA was home to the long-abandoned Cinéma de Paris, and in front of it was a famous large circular sign that had displayed the name of the theatre for decades.

Aside from considerations of national heritage, there were equally fervent debates on more local issues, such as what to do with the sign that used to hang in front of the Cinéma de Paris. When a fire destroyed the sign in 2007, a long process of deliberation ensued. As a resolution, artist Claudie Gagnon was commissioned to create an art piece to both pay homage to Cinéma de Paris and become the new symbol of Le Diamant. The result was Atome ou le fruit des étoiles (“Atom or the fruit of the stars”), depicting the precious stone that inspired Le Diamant’s name and illuminated by the use of fibre optics.

THE HUB

Upon completion, Le Diamant stands as a spectacle rivalling the productions that grace the stages within it. A crystalline atrium connects the old YMCA building to the Cinéma de Paris building, illuminating the interior with abundant natural light. The ground floor hosts the box office and a large staircase that rises up to a foyer, exposing the lines and artfully preserved skeletal remains of the old YMCA. The star tenant of the foyer is a gold-plated 19th-century piano that is occasionally used to host small concerts.

The main auditorium of the venue, Salle Hydro-Québec, housed in what used to be the Cinéma de Paris, is an intimate setting of 650 seats. The multiplicity of Ex Machina’s programming was considered in the construction of the seating sections, with a priority for modality and flexibility in arrangement. Some seating sections can be folded and pushed into the back of the auditorium for the sake of customizable stage space, and some can be stored beneath the floor near the stage, to make way for a small orchestra pit. Film nights and festivals — including the Québec City Film Festival — are also welcome to make use of the venue’s world class projectors and screen. For those events that do without a stage, seating can even be removed to create an open event space for up to 800 guests to mingle the night away. In the spirit of cultivating a truly multifunctional performance space, Lepage has established an open atmosphere in Le Diamant’s programming that reflects the marketspace that existed a century before, where everything from wrestling galas — hosted every two months — to local circuses can fill the playbill.

Nested above the main auditorium and administrative offices, a fully equipped studio was installed on the fifth floor as a dynamic creative space to host everything from film and television sets, art installations, and the occasional local circus and theatre companies. Adjacent to the studio is a terrace. It is at this vantage that perhaps the greatest spectacle Le Diamant has to offer comes into sight: a picturesque view of Québec City, a formidable fusion of the past and the ever-emerging future. Despite the sprawling proportions of this performance centre, it remains for Lepage a malleable tool for delivering the full spectrum of Ex Machina’s celebrated canon. The seemingly inexhaustible inventiveness of the Ex Machina creative machine has finally met its match in Le Diamant.

CANNOPY’s Top 170 Films - Part 2

ISSUE 17 — Guido Anselmi, the most indecisive film director ever, takes over our film coverage for a 170-film countdown to Issue 17

Spread across 17 entries, this series features the 170 films that built our taste and occasionally rearranged something in us permanently. Perhaps you’ll find something here for your next movie night, who knows, maybe even something life-changing…

DISCOVER

Watch Now: Rosebush Pruning

CINEMA — Director Karim Aïnouz on privilege, patriarchy, and cutting down the family tree

Karim Aïnouz’s ninth narrative feature, Rosebush Pruning, sets its sights on a wealthy, isolated American family whose designer excess and pop-song hedonism curdle into something far darker once an outsider breaches their world.

INTERVIEW

The Big Chat with Roman Borys

CANNOPY x MUSIC TORONTO — The Artistic Director of one of Toronto’s premier classical music organizations drills deep on what chamber music can do that nothing else can

Roman Borys is the kind of artistic director that arts organizations ought to be clamouring for: a cellist of international standing who can walk offstage, cross a lobby, and spend twenty minutes talking a first-time audience member into becoming a subscriber.

INTERVIEW

Cafe Chat with Actor Tom McCamus

THEATRE — On Waiting, Dreaming, and “Death of a Salesman” at the Stratford Festival

From a 30,000-ft view, Death of a Salesman is essentially a play about two men in their 30s living at home and desperately trying to break out on their own and live the life their dad achieved at a much earlier age. Now, what could be more relevant to 2026 than that?

READ

ARCHIVE: Ada Lea and a new release

CANADIAN ALTERNATIVE MUSIC — Revisiting our Issue 16 conversation with Ada Lea, as she lets old fragments and new songs sit unresolved on her latest EP, “the end is a wave”.

Ada Lea has always worked in prolific fragments: two hundred songs whittled into an album, a decade of half-finished tapes waiting for their moment in the record store sun. On the end is a wave, out today via Next Door Records, the Montreal musician born Alexandra permits these fragments to nest beside each other unresolved.

READ

Alicia Graf Mack: Are You In Love?

CONTEMPORARY DANCE — On Alvin Ailey's legacy, corralling a rainbow troupe, and leading one of America's great dance institutions into its next chapter

LISTEN

Sibylle Baier: Are You in Love?

FOLK MUSIC — Fifty years after recording the songs of "Colour Green" in her Stuttgart living room, Sibylle Baier turns 80 and gives only her second interview

LISTEN

Surgeons at the Symphony: Chicago

CLASSICAL MUSIC — After a performance of Bartók and Tchaikovsky by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, seven surgeons went backstage to meet pianist Conrad Tao—and the conversations that followed went well beyond the music

READ

“The Importance of Being Earnest” at Stratford Festival

THEATRE — Lead actors Allison Lynch and Joe Perry reveal everything you need to know about the funniest production at Stratford this year

FULL INTERVIEW

Pablo Ferrández, cello

One of the most compelling artists on today’s international stage, Pablo Ferrández has quickly established himself as a major voice in classical music. Named after his great Spanish predecessor Pablo Casals and hailed by some as “the next Yo-Yo Ma,” the Tchaikovsky Prize-winning artist opens Music Toronto’s 2026–27 season with his Canadian solo recital debut. Celebrating the 150th anniversary of Casals, the program honours the legendary artist whose artistry reshaped the cello’s voice, featuring solo works by J.S. Bach, Benjamin Britten and Gaspar Cassadó. TICKETS

Quatuor Danel

Renowned for performances of extraordinary insight and emotional power, the Quatuor Danel returns with a program of striking contrasts and emotional depth. Mozart’s searing and intense Adagio and Fugue opens the evening, followed by the impassioned sweep of Mendelssohn’s Quartet in A minor. Sofia Gubaidulina’s Reflection on the Theme B-A-C-H brings a mystical dimension to the program that then concludes with the warmth and melodic brilliance of Tchaikovsky’s Quartet in D major. TICKETS

Dinuk Wijeratne and the Canadian Chamber Orchestra

Pianist and composer Dinuk Wijeratne joins the Canadian Chamber Orchestra for his electrifying solo piano and string orchestra piece Gajaga Vannama. Inspired by Sri Lankan ritual and the majesty of the elephant, this vibrant East-meets-West score pulses with dance rhythms, jazz inflections, tonal clusters, and dazzling colour. In works for chamber orchestra by George Walker, Caroline Shaw, and Philip Glass, the CCO traces a compelling musical arc from luminous lyricism to shimmering textures and hypnotic rhythmic drive. TICKETS

MUSE: What Makes It Great?® with Rob Kapilow - Mendelssohn Octet

In What Makes It Great?®, composer, commentator, and author Rob Kapilow unlocks great music with insight, humour, and live musical examples. Explore the brilliance of Mendelssohn’s Octet as Kapilow reveals the invention and youthful genius behind one of chamber music’s most exhilarating works. His presentation is followed by a complete performance and audience Q&A. TICKETS

Illia Ovcharenko, piano

Having delighted Music Toronto audiences with “one of the best recitals of 2025” (LudwigVan), Ukrainian pianist Illia Ovcharenko returns to Music Toronto with a program shaped by the spirit of fantasy. From Beethoven’s Quasi una Fantasia and Schumann’s visionary Fantasy in C to the evocative works of Ukrainian composer Viktor Kosenko and Liszt’s electrifying Dante Sonata, Ovcharenko explores music where imagination, poetry, and virtuosity unfold in thrilling freedom. TICKETS

Gryphon Trio with James Campbell

In its early years as a Music Toronto ensemble-in-residence, the Gryphon Trio first performed Olivier Messiaen’s visionary Quartet for the End of Time with revered Canadian clarinetist James Campbell. Composed in a prisoner-of-war camp during the Second World War, the work stands as one of the 20th century’s most profound musical testaments of faith, transcendence, and human resilience. Twenty-five years and countless performances later, the Gryphon Trio and Campbell return to this monumental masterpiece that has become a defining thread in their artistic story. The program opens with the stormy passion of Johannes Brahms’ dramatic Piano Trio in C minor and also features the world premiere of a new work for piano trio by Graham Campbell. TICKETS

MUSE: What Makes It Great?® with Rob Kapilow and Meagan Milatz - Beethoven’s “Appassionata” Sonata

In What Makes It Great?, master communicator Rob Kapilow and brilliant Canadian pianist Meagan Milatz explore Beethoven’s electrifying Appassionata Sonata, revealing how the composer transforms simple musical ideas through bold and imaginative variations. Part of our Sunday afternoon MUSE (Music Unveiled, Stories, Explorations) series, this illuminating event readies listeners for Danny Driver’s performance of Beethoven’s monumental Diabelli Variations in March 2027. TICKETS

Esmé Quartet

Having thrilled Music Toronto audiences in 2022 with their elegance, precision and energy, the Esmé Quartet returns with a program of drama, rhythm, and sweeping lyricism. Samuel Barber’s Quartet, Op. 11 features the haunting slow movement later arranged as the famous Adagio for Strings. John Adams’s Book of Alleged Dances brims with folk energy and playful rhythm, while Antonín Dvořák’s majestic Quartet in G major, Op. 106 crowns the evening with radiant melody and power. TICKETS

Duo Concertante with the Dior Quartet

One of Canada’s pre-eminent chamber ensembles, Duo Concertante—violinist Nancy Dahn and pianist Timothy Steeves—is celebrated internationally for its expressive depth and remarkable musical unity. They open the program with Luigi Dallapiccola’s Tartiniana Seconda, a brilliant reimagining of Baroque violin music, and a sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven in this Beethoven anniversary year. Vince Ho’s playful Donut Suite adds dazzling wit before the second half, when they join the dynamic Dior Quartet for the sweeping romanticism of Ernest Chausson’s magnificent Concerto for violin, piano, and string quartet. TICKETS

Danny Driver, piano

Returning to Music Toronto for a third appearance, British pianist Danny Driver brings his exceptional artistry to a program of waltzes and variations spanning three centuries. George Frideric Handel’s elegant Suite No. 5, Maurice Ravel’s shimmering Valses nobles et sentimentales, and Morton Feldman’s spare Variations lead to the evening’s centerpiece, Ludwig van Beethoven’s monumental Diabelli Variations. Rarely heard in concert, this astonishing cycle of 33 variations transforms a simple waltz into an imaginative and profound work in the piano repertoire, offering a special experience in a Beethoven anniversary year. TICKETS

Escher String Quartet

Escher String Quartet makes its Music Toronto debut with a program that moves from Classical brilliance to late-Romantic intensity. Joseph Haydn’s sparkling Op. 76 No. 1 opens the evening, followed by the lush cinematic voice of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s rarely heard Third Quartet, before the profound lyricism and drama of Johannes Brahms’s A minor Quartet. Formed in 2005, the Escher is named for the Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher, inspired by his method of interplay between individual components working together to form a whole. TICKETS

MUSE: Karen Ouzounian and Lembit Beecher

Cellist Karen Ouzounian, acclaimed for her work with the Silkroad Ensemble and the Aizuri Quartet, joins composer-pianist Lembit Beecher to close the season’s MUSE series with Mayrig, an immersive multimedia program centered on the human voice. Voices of Ouzounian’s mother and grandmother weave through Armenian music from Anatolia, songs of Lebanon, and the music of Charles Aznavour, alongside new works exploring memory, heritage, and resilience across generations. The program spans centuries and cultures, opening and closing with Marin Marais’s Les Voix Humaines. Traditional Armenian songs and early Anatolian recordings appear alongside arrangements of music by Charles Aznavour and Ashot Satyan. Original works by Lembit Beecher are joined by contemporary voices including Layale Chaker, Nathalie Joachim, Niloufar Nourbakhsh, and Karen Ouzounian, interwoven with recorded voices from Ouzounian’s family. Blending voice, memory, and music, Mayrig unfolds as a deeply human meditation on identity, inheritance, and the passage of time. TICKETS

New Orford String Quartet

Well known to Toronto chamber music audiences, the New Orford String Quartet brings its celebrated artistry to Music Toronto in a program of brilliance, energy, and spiritual depth. Joseph Haydn’s sparkling Op. 76 No. 5 opens the evening, followed by Kelly-Marie Murphy’s gripping Dark Energy. The program culminates in the transcendent beauty of Ludwig van Beethoven’s A minor Quartet, Op. 132, part of Music Toronto’s exploration of beloved Beethoven masterpieces during the 2027 anniversary year. TICKETS

CANNOPY’s Top 170 Films - Part 1

ISSUE 17 — Guido Anselmi, the most indecisive film director ever, takes over our film coverage for a 170-film countdown to Issue 17

Every issue needs a spirit guide, and for Issue 17—which is built around the question “Are You in Love?,” with over 30 pages dedicated to cinema—ours is Guido Anselmi.

DISCOVER

Cafe Chat with Actor Tom McCamus

THEATRE — On Waiting, Dreaming, and “Death of a Salesman” at the Stratford Festival

From a 30,000-ft view, Death of a Salesman is essentially a play about two men in their 30s living at home and desperately trying to break out on their own and live the life their dad achieved at a much earlier age. Now, what could be more relevant to 2026 than that?

READ

ARCHIVE: Ada Lea and a new release

CANADIAN ALTERNATIVE MUSIC — Revisiting our Issue 16 conversation with Ada Lea, as she lets old fragments and new songs sit unresolved on her latest EP, “the end is a wave”.

Ada Lea has always worked in prolific fragments: two hundred songs whittled into an album, a decade of half-finished tapes waiting for their moment in the record store sun. On the end is a wave, out today via Next Door Records, the Montreal musician born Alexandra permits these fragments to nest beside each other unresolved.

READ

Alicia Graf Mack: Are You In Love?

CONTEMPORARY DANCE — On Alvin Ailey's legacy, corralling a rainbow troupe, and leading one of America's great dance institutions into its next chapter

LISTEN

Now in Theatres: Rosebush Pruning

INTERNATIONAL CINEMA — On his latest feature film, the Brazilian film director Karim Aïnouz casts a critical lens on what happens when privilege turns claustrophobic

LISTEN

UPSTREAM: Mayor Olivia Chow

POLICY — Our new video interview series traces the political decisions that shape what art gets made, seen, and funded — starting with Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow

WATCH THE TEASER

Sibylle Baier: Are You in Love?

FOLK MUSIC — Fifty years after recording the songs of "Colour Green" in her Stuttgart living room, Sibylle Baier turns 80 and gives only her second interview

LISTEN

Surgeons at the Symphony: Chicago

CLASSICAL MUSIC — After a performance of Bartók and Tchaikovsky by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, seven surgeons went backstage to meet pianist Conrad Tao—and the conversations that followed went well beyond the music

READ

“The Importance of Being Earnest” at Stratford Festival

THEATRE — Lead actors Allison Lynch and Joe Perry reveal everything you need to know about the funniest production at Stratford this year

FULL INTERVIEW

Alicia Graf Mack: Are You In Love?

CONTEMPORARY DANCE — On Alvin Ailey's legacy, corralling a rainbow troupe, and leading one of America's great dance institutions into its next chapter

LISTEN

Now in Theatres: Rosebush Pruning

INTERNATIONAL CINEMA — On his latest feature film, the Brazilian film director Karim Aïnouz casts a critical lens on what happens when privilege turns claustrophobic

LISTEN

Introducing KITSCHEN

CULINARY ARTS — Here’s your chance to vote on the first restaurant we should profile in this series

Introducing KITSCHEN: our living postcard to the restaurants, cafés, and culinary spaces that understand this instinctively—where the menu is a design object, the plating is a composition, and the room itself tells you something true about the people who made it. No stars, no rankings. Just the spaces where someone cared enough to make the whole thing beautiful. We want you to pick the first place we profile!

Voting closes August 11!

VOTE NOW

UPSTREAM: Mayor Olivia Chow

POLICY — Our new video interview series traces the political decisions that shape what art gets made, seen, and funded — starting with Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow

WATCH THE TEASER

Sibylle Baier: Are You in Love?

FOLK MUSIC — Fifty years after recording the songs of "Colour Green" in her Stuttgart living room, Sibylle Baier turns 80 and gives only her second interview

LISTEN

Surgeons at the Symphony: Chicago

CLASSICAL MUSIC — After a performance of Bartók and Tchaikovsky by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, seven surgeons went backstage to meet pianist Conrad Tao—and the conversations that followed went well beyond the music

READ

“The Importance of Being Earnest” at Stratford Festival

THEATRE — Lead actors Allison Lynch and Joe Perry reveal everything you need to know about the funniest production at Stratford this year

FULL INTERVIEW

Next Up: Elysia Biro

ALTERNATIVE CANADIAN MUSIC — Classically trained, jazz-informed, and very much her own thing

FULL INTERVIEW

Missy Mazzoli: Are You In Love?

CLASSICAL MUSIC — The Brooklyn-based composer reflects on love, death, and a history-making season at the Metropolitan Opera

LISTEN

Introducing KITSCHEN

CULINARY ARTS — Here’s your chance to vote on the first restaurant we should profile in this series

Introducing KITSCHEN: our living postcard to the restaurants, cafés, and culinary spaces that understand this instinctively—where the menu is a design object, the plating is a composition, and the room itself tells you something true about the people who made it. No stars, no rankings. Just the spaces where someone cared enough to make the whole thing beautiful.

We want you to pick the first place we profile!

VOTE NOW

UPSTREAM: Mayor Olivia Chow

POLICY — Our new video interview series traces the political decisions that shape what art gets made, seen, and funded — starting with Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow

WATCH THE TEASER

Surgeons at the Symphony: Chicago

CLASSICAL MUSIC — After a performance of Bartók and Tchaikovsky by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, seven surgeons went backstage to meet pianist Conrad Tao—and the conversations that followed went well beyond the music

READ

Allison Russell Lets Slip the Dogs of Love

ALTERNATIVE CANADIAN MUSIC — On "In the Hour of Chaos", Russell answers the current moment not with retreat but with radical community, radical joy, and a middle school choir

FULL INTERVIEW

“The Importance of Being Earnest” at Stratford Festival

THEATRE — Lead actors Allison Lynch and Joe Perry reveal everything you need to know about the funniest production at Stratford this year

FULL INTERVIEW

Next Up: Elysia Biro

ALTERNATIVE CANADIAN MUSIC — Classically trained, jazz-informed, and very much her own thing

FULL INTERVIEW

Molly Johnson : Are You In Love?

JAZZ — On joy as a radical act, peonies in bloom, and why Talk To Me is the record Canada needs right now

LISTEN

SIRÂT: Weltschmerz under a Scorching Sun

INTERNATIONAL CINEMA — In a world where collective traumas arrive without interval, what tools are we given to mourn together — and who bears the cost when none exist?

Submerged in warm light, carefully stacked speakers are installed like a mountain range mirroring the rocky desert landscape. These speakers are the medium conducting the deep bass, which in turn crafts the dense atmosphere that will unfold throughout the film, a rough-edged techno sound of visceral intensity, provided by composer Kangding Ray. SIRÂT begins with the collective euphoria of a continuous party from night into day, in a remote location of a Moroccan desert. And with this, we immediately dive into the plot where father Luis and son Esteban distribute flyers concerning their missing daughter and sister to the revelers, accompanied by the pulsating score, as it carries us into collective exhaustion.

READ

Missy Mazzoli: Are You In Love?

CLASSICAL MUSIC — The Brooklyn-based composer reflects on love, death, and a history-making season at the Metropolitan Opera

LISTEN

Sure this summer’s festivals are winding down, but this issue has a full plate. We launch KITSCHEN, our new culinary arts series that reclaims kitsch as a critical lens and scores restaurants on everything except the food. We also introduce UPSTREAM, a video interview series on the politics behind the arts, featuring Mayor Olivia Chow of Toronto.

Elsewhere, Élisabeth Pion makes her Toronto debut at Koerner Hall for the TSM Festival, and the Spotlight Events section covers everything from the Festival of Friends’ 50th anniversary in Hamilton to a durational choreographic installation inside a sonified greenhouse at SummerWorks. The job board, the poll results, and a vote for KITSCHEN’s first restaurant profile round out what is, as always, your best guide to what’s happening across Southern Ontario.

CANNOPY x Élisabeth Pion

The TSM Festival Orchestra closes its Koerner Hall season with two soloists stepping into a rarely-shared spotlight: pianist Élisabeth Pion and harpist Emmanuel Ceysson, the latter taking on Henriette Renié’s Harp Concerto. Honegger’s pastoral miniature opens the evening gently before Mendelssohn’s stormy G minor Concerto (Pion’s Toronto debut!) and Mozart’s brilliant “Haffner” Symphony carries it to a close. Ahead of the concert, CANNOPY spoke with Pion about what it means to arrive at a festival like this for the first time, and what she hears in the Mendelssohn that most soloists miss.

ON THE TORONTO DEBUT

One of the storylines we’ve been tracing in our coverage of TSM over the last three years is this idea that the festival is functioning less and less like a convenient summer fill-in and more like a highlight event on the performance calendar of an increasingly global roster of artists. What does it mean to you to be making your Toronto debut here, and is there something about the summertime pace that makes a debut like this more special?

ÉP — I’m really, really excited to make my debut this summer at Toronto Summer Music. I feel truly thrilled to be alongside colleagues I’ve admired for so many years—people like Les Arts Florissants or Pekka Kuusisto, who is so wildly creative. I feel lucky to inscribe myself in that kind of lineage of artistry, and I’m glad that Toronto Summer Music felt my profile would fit what they are looking for in terms of music-making, because I love their approach to music. It will also be my first time playing in Koerner Hall, and I’ve heard such wonderful things about the acoustics.

As for the summer pace—in a way, summer is also quite hectic in terms of concert schedule. But what is definitely helpful is the sunshine and the heat, and just the fact that after days of rehearsal you can go sit on a terrace or walk in a park. That summer voluptuousness helps for music-making, I find. And what I think will make this particularly memorable is the festival atmosphere itself. When something lingers for more than a few days, there’s a sense of community that builds, people form lasting relationships, and you can feel that intimacy on stage in the connection between musicians. I’m also playing with the Festival Orchestra, which I love—there is a groove and a vitality to playing with younger colleagues that I very much enjoy. And I don’t know Toronto very well yet, so I’m excited to discover the city’s delights.

ON MENDELSSOHN’S PIANO CONCERTO NO. 1

This concerto opens with the soloist’s emphatic entrance on double octaves—a fantasia-like introduction that the orchestra then reverberates. With a reduced chamber orchestra of approximately seventeen musicians accompanying you, how do you anticipate the soloist’s part will be augmented or accentuated? Will you feel on more equal footing, or does the orchestra shift into a more supportive role with a bigger spotlight on the piano?

ÉP — I feel that the reduced chamber orchestra is actually built into the aesthetic of the work—it’s not something that would change my approach to the soloist part. I don’t think it augments or accentuates it so much as it’s a matter of balance and proportion in the architecture. I’ve been working a great deal on period instruments as well, and when you have that awareness of what instruments could do at that time, you realize the blend was considerably more balanced than what it is now with the big Steinways. I think we can very much still create that effect with the instruments at our disposal.

The role of the soloist has, I feel, been rather over-emphasized over the last century and a half. For any concerto I’ve played, I’ve never felt I’m not on equal footing with the orchestra. It’s always a matter of blending—knowing when it’s your time to shine, when it’s the orchestra’s time to shine, and spotting the solos in the orchestra where you can bring the spotlight onto wonderful players. It’s like a painting: if the background is not beautiful and not inviting, what’s in the foreground cannot attract the light. This concerto is very much like that.

Mendelssohn has proven time and again that when he wants something grand and sonorous, he can orchestrate for it—his symphonies show that. But this concerto has much more of a chamber music feeling. The second movement is almost like one of his Songs Without Words. And the third movement, for me, is like a Tom and Jerry game—the piano and orchestra just run after each other trying to catch each other. Their contribution is central to the life of the piece. We take turns being supportive, and we take turns shining. I’m really looking forward to finding that balance with them and playing ping pong.

www.elisabethpion.com

Issue 16 invites you to take a long, slow walk — through boardwalks, backstreets, and creative nooks — where the coffee is hot, the leaves are turning, and your favourite song plays on loop. Across 100 pages, and spanning twelve editorial series, we encounter over 30 artists who redefine presence: from Toronto’s dance and jazz scenes to London’s Afro-fusion rhythms and Paris’s experimental stages.

ISSUE 16

KITSCHEN

In our June Issue, we polled our readers for the segment they’d most like to see added to the ANY Newsletter. Restaurant Highlights topped the list with 43% of the vote. You spoke and we’re delivering with KITSCHEN.

There is a school of thought that separates fine dining from fine art, that draws a line between the canvas and the cutting board, the gallery wall and the chalkboard menu. We don’t buy it. Kitsch has spent too long as a term of dismissal—a shorthand for the sentimental, the excessive, the unserious — and we think it’s time to take it back. At its best, kitsch is the art of making people feel immediately, viscerally at home: through colour, through abundance, through the unashamed embrace of the things that bring us joy sans apology.

Introducing KITSCHEN: our living postcard to the restaurants, cafés, and culinary spaces that understand this instinctively—where the menu is a design object, the plating is a composition, and the room itself tells you something true about the people who made it. No stars, no rankings. Just the spaces where someone cared enough to make the whole thing beautiful.

At the link below, discover the KITSCHEN series and vote in our poll for which restaurant we should visit first.

ENTER THE KITSCHEN

UPSTREAM

If politics is downstream of culture, and art is upstream of culture, then it is important to trace the ways that political decisions and operatives shape the art that we see (and don’t see) in our publicly-funded institutions. UPSTREAM is a video interview series spotlighting how policy intersects with the arts industry through profiles of our political leaders. First up: Mayor Olivia Chow of Toronto.

Enjoy the teaser below, the full episode is coming soon. Become a paid subscriber and get access to all of CANNOPY’s Arts Near You content.

Next Up: Elysia Biro

MUSIC — Classically trained, jazz-informed, and very much her own thing

FULL INTERVIEW

Molly Johnson : Are You In Love?

MUSIC — On joy as a radical act, peonies in bloom, and why Talk To Me is the record Canada needs right now

LISTEN

Out Now: Allison Russell’s In the Hour of Chaos

MUSIC — On In the Hour of Chaos, Russell answers the current moment not with retreat but with radical community, radical joy, and a middle school choir

LISTEN

Vivek Shraya: Are You In Love?

MUSIC — The Toronto artist behind Vivica on desire, alter egos, and what it means to be in love with your own provocation

LISTEN

SIRÂT: Weltschmerz under a Scorching Sun

CINEMA — In a world where collective traumas arrive without interval, what tools are we given to mourn together — and who bears the cost when none exist?

Submerged in warm light, carefully stacked speakers are installed like a mountain range mirroring the rocky desert landscape. These speakers are the medium conducting the deep bass, which in turn crafts the dense atmosphere that will unfold throughout the film, a rough-edged techno sound of visceral intensity, provided by composer Kangding Ray. SIRÂT begins with the collective euphoria of a continuous party from night into day, in a remote location of a Moroccan desert. And with this, we immediately dive into the plot where father Luis and son Esteban distribute flyers concerning their missing daughter and sister to the revelers, accompanied by the pulsating score, as it carries us into collective exhaustion.

READ

Missy Mazzoli: Are You In Love?

MUSIC — The Brooklyn-based composer reflects on love, death, and a history-making season at the Metropolitan Opera

LISTEN

Tranzac Call for Residents

COMMUNITY — Tranzac is inviting artists, groups, curators, ensembles and organizations to apply to our performance residency program for October 2026 - March 2027.

Tranzac’s intimate Southern Cross Lounge (capacity: 58, approximately 45 seated) has long been home to many performance residencies that are at the heart of Tranzac’s programming and identity. These artist-led performance residencies take place in two-hour time slots; shows are PWYC, and Tranzac also pays artists 10% of the bar sales (with the exception of community groups/jams). Sound is DIY (do it yourself). Tranzac has a full backline, including drums and a piano. Successful applicants will have access to sound orientation workshops and troubleshooting tech support in advance of shows. It is recommended that you or your collaborators have some experience doing your own sound as assistance during shows is not available.

Deadline to apply: Friday, July 24, 2026

LEARN MORE

Out Now: Allison Russell’s In the Hour of Chaos

MUSIC — On In the Hour of Chaos, Russell answers the current moment not with retreat but with radical community, radical joy, and a middle school choir

LISTEN

Latest Single: “Reignite” by Elysia Biro

MUSIC — The rising jazz pop artist reflects on the inspiration behind the title of her debut EP

LISTEN

SIRÂT: Weltschmerz under a Scorching Sun

CINEMA — In a world where collective traumas arrive without interval, what tools are we given to mourn together — and who bears the cost when none exist?

Submerged in warm light, carefully stacked speakers are installed like a mountain range mirroring the rocky desert landscape. These speakers are the medium conducting the deep bass, which in turn crafts the dense atmosphere that will unfold throughout the film, a rough-edged techno sound of visceral intensity, provided by composer Kangding Ray. SIRÂT begins with the collective euphoria of a continuous party from night into day, in a remote location of a Moroccan desert. And with this, we immediately dive into the plot where father Luis and son Esteban distribute flyers concerning their missing daughter and sister to the revelers, accompanied by the pulsating score, as it carries us into collective exhaustion.

READ

Missy Mazzoli: Are You In Love?

MUSIC — The Brooklyn-based composer reflects on love, death, and a history-making season at the Metropolitan Opera

LISTEN

ARCHIVE: The Vernon Spring

MUSIC — Sam Beste’s expanded rework album, “Unfamiliar Sun”, is a portrait of what happens when music travels between people who trust each other with it

READ

Notes from the Recording No. 2: Pastoral

In the second instalment of Notes From the Recording, we turn towards Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony through the lens of vinyl culture featuring a recording by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Moving between personal listening reflections and broader musical history, this instalment considers how recordings of the Sixth Symphony have long wrestled with Beethoven’s own resistance to overt programmatic storytelling, while also reflecting on the nostalgia and visual language that surround classical records themselves. As with the series’ first entry, this entry treats the act of listening not simply as consumption, but as a lived ritual shaped by memory, collecting, and the physicality of recorded sound.

READ

There’s a lot going on in this one. We launch two new series: ARTchitect and Upstream, the latter featuring Hamilton’s Mayor Andrea Horwath. Elsewhere, we spotlight Camille Turner’s long-overdue retrospective at the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the opening night of Toronto Summer Music with Les Arts Florissants at Koerner Hall, and ten must-see events across the province, from a punk and emo festival at the Lithuanian House to Ali Cherri’s first Canadian solo show in Oakville. The Cannopy List, the job board, and Notes From the Recording round out what is, as always, your guide to what’s happening across Southern Ontario.

Results from our previous poll:

You spoke and we are listening — it looks like your top priority for expanding our coverage is uncovering the artistic layer within the culinary arts through in-depth profiles of celebrated restaurants in the province. On it! In the meantime, get a headstart on our coverage of the culinary arts with our Frameable Series, featuring frameable recipes for an Arugula Wild Rice Salad and Slow Cooked Bolognese.

For this issue of the Arts Near You Newsletter, we’re launching two new series: ARTchitect, which presents an artistic lens on Ontario’s architectural highlights; and Upstream, which explores the upstream and downstream relationships between art, culture, and politics. The first iteration of ARTchitect revisits our coverage of The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts for a look at the early days of its design by Diamond Schmitt Architects. And Upstream begins with an excerpt from our interview with Mayor Andrea Horwath of Hamilton, speaking on how her office is supporting the city’s artistic industry.

Cast your vote in this week’s poll:

In our last issue, we took a close look at what an NDP government might mean for arts and culture in Canada, arguing that the most powerful cultural policy can be disguised as an economic one. Economic platforms that put money back in people's pockets, lower the cost of living, and extend safety nets to freelancers and gig workers don't just benefit artists; they create the conditions for audiences to exist in the first place. But the NDP is only one piece of the picture. Which federal party do you think would be the most effective champion for Canada's arts and culture scene? Cast your vote below—we’ll be looking at the other parties in the issues ahead.

From the Archives: Issue 10

CANNOPY x Lan Florence Yee

Your recent works that challenge racialized and gendered expectations often involve the intersection of text and embroidery textile. How did you arrive at this unique cross-section, and what other possibilities would you like to explore with it?

LFY ── I come to text mostly through the media of signage, templates, and forms. They are everywhere and yet invisible to those who have normalised the ways they guide people’s behaviour. Everything from the font, size, colour, placement, but especially the repetition, are taken for granted. Growing up in Montreal as a trilingual person, the hierarchy of language was a prominent feature in my environment.

At the same time, I was doing research into early Cantonese history in so-called Canada. From the nineteenth century onwards, the conditions of economic and political survival for Cantonese migrants were tied to their labour. As “hard work” became a measurement of value, I got interested in the contradictions of recognition and desirability. I became interested in “working” through the restrictive belonging we may seek from labour, language, and family with hand embroidery and other kinds of intensive creation processes.

Through embroidery, the text that I add onto fabric becomes texture. It mirrors the embodiment of my process by logging the time spent with the object. That heavy marker of time narrows the chasm I often feel between myself and the viewer, who spends a relatively short moment in front of it. It’s a willfully inconvenient method of working because I want to slow down.

Issue 16 invites you to take a long, slow walk — through boardwalks, backstreets, and creative nooks — where the coffee is hot, the leaves are turning, and your favourite song plays on loop. Across 100 pages, and spanning twelve editorial series, we encounter over 30 artists who redefine presence: from Toronto’s dance and jazz scenes to London’s Afro-fusion rhythms and Paris’s experimental stages.

ISSUE 16

Upstream

If politics is downstream of culture, and art is upstream of culture, then it is important to trace the ways that political decisions and operatives shape the art that we see (and don’t see) in our publicly-funded institutions. This series would spotlight specific political trends and how they intersect with the art industry.

Mayor Andrea Horwath on Bringing Hamilton out of Toronto’s Shadow

INTERVIEW BY MICHAEL ZARATHUS-COOK | CHIEF EDITOR

When most people in Ontario think about the arts, Toronto comes to mind first. Hamilton has spent years being described as Toronto’s creative backyard—affordable, gritty, full of potential. At what point does a city stop being defined by its proximity to somewhere else and start being the destination?

Subscribe to The Cannopy Newsletter for the full interview.

ARTchitecture

Art and architecture go hand in hand, so with this series we want to capture some of the architectural marvels and blunders that contribute to Southern Ontario’s increasingly dynamic cityscapes. Along the way we hope you’ll discover new buildings worth travelling to, or perhaps a new lens on places that you’ve always overlooked.

The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts

WORDS BY EMILY PITTMAN & ISABELLA ELIAS | PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF DIAMOND SCHMITT

The Four Seasons Centre remains one of Canada’s most compelling examples of the power of architectural design to seamlessly contextualise a world-class hub within a city’s bustling downtown core. Designed by architect Jack Diamond, who passed away in October 2022, it is the first building of its kind in Canada to be built specifically for opera and ballet performances.

From its sleek lines to soaring glass walls that invite a glimpse of the amphitheatre within, the structure communicates an openness that deviates noticeably from the more enclosed designs of its European counterparts. The most striking feature at first sight of the FSC is the way in which it is cohesively integrated into the immediate landscape, despite its impressive proportions.

The four-storey Isadore and Rosalie Sharp City Room lobby was conceptualised as a lantern, with the external glass facade allowing natural light to flood the interior during the day, in service of visual continuity with its surrounding structures. In the evening, the FSC swaps transparency for a dominating opacity, emanating a grid of warm light from its wide squat at the southeast corner of the University Avenue and Queen Street intersection.

Inside, the building’s genius resides in its subtleties. Washed in neutral-warm tones, the interior design imparts a sense of presence without competing with the dramatic colours of the ballets and operas on its stage. The liberal distribution of open spaces, and an uninterrupted floor-to-ceiling view, is one of the few grand gestures of the simultaneously awesome and intimate interior, aside from the expansive auditorium. The 2,071-seat horseshoe-shaped auditorium, named the R. Fraser Elliot Hall, is astounding in its ability to impose complete sensorial immersion within the art on stage, despite being mere metres away from the subway beneath and the cacophony of downtown traffic on all sides. Diamond’s design prioritised state-of-the-art acoustic technology that accentuates the palpably cathartic sound for every seat in the hall.

Notes From the Recording

The Arrival of Spring on Vinyl

What can Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony teach us about acceptance?

In the second instalment of Notes From the Recording, Cannopy turns toward Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony through the lens of vinyl culture featuring a recording by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Moving between personal listening reflections and broader musical history, this instalment considers how recordings of the Sixth Symphony have long wrestled with Beethoven’s own resistance to overt programmatic storytelling, while also reflecting on the nostalgia and visual language that surround classical records themselves. As with the series’ first entry, this entry treats the act of listening not simply as consumption, but as a lived ritual shaped by memory, collecting, and the physicality of recorded sound.

Notes from the Recording No. 2: Pastoral

ANCHORBALL: A Curious Art Journey

EXHIBIT — Artist Ken Kelleher and the Royal Botanical Gardens open a door to Low Orbit City

Running at Hamilton’s Royal Botanical Gardens from June 20 to September 20, ANCHORBALL: A Curious Art Journey marks the Canadian premiere of sculptor Ken Kelleher’s most ambitious outdoor exhibition to date— 18 monumental pop-art sculptures, some reaching twelve feet tall, dispersed across Hendrie Park’s formal rose gardens, open fields, and forested trails. The works introduce visitors to Low Orbit City, a fictional universe hovering between the real and the almost-real, populated by the Venus Aurora Floralis sisters, the enigmatic Bunni B, and other characters from Kelleher’s ever-expanding mythology.

READ

SIRÂT: Weltschmerz under a Scorching Sun

CINEMA — In a world where collective traumas arrive without interval, what tools are we given to mourn together — and who bears the cost when none exist?

Submerged in warm light, carefully stacked speakers are installed like a mountain range mirroring the rocky desert landscape. These speakers are the medium conducting the deep bass, which in turn crafts the dense atmosphere that will unfold throughout the film, a rough-edged techno sound of visceral intensity, provided by composer Kangding Ray. SIRÂT begins with the collective euphoria of a continuous party from night into day, in a remote location of a Moroccan desert. And with this, we immediately dive into the plot where father Luis and son Esteban distribute flyers concerning their missing daughter and sister to the revelers, accompanied by the pulsating score, as it carries us into collective exhaustion.

READ

ARCHIVE: Alela Diane | Plus a New Release

MUSIC — The Portland folk artist on "Looking Glass", life's quiet seasons, and the art of taking your time

LISTEN

Allison Russell: Are You In Love?

MUSIC — The Canadian-American artist talks love and shares the latest single from her upcoming third studio album, “In the Hour of Chaos”.

For the next issue of Cannopy Magazine, we’re asking artists a simple question: Are You In Love? We want to get a sense of how they fell in love with their latest project, and how the many loves of their lives can be channeled into one artistic vessel. Next up: Allison Russell

LISTEN

Pompei: Below the Clouds

CINEMA — With lots of reverence and little romanticism, director Gianfranco Rosi delivers an unprecedented portrait of Naples

The soil, air, and sea beneath Mount Vesuvius is steeped in memories that recount the catastrophic 79 AD eruption which interred the prosperous Roman city of Pompeii and its populace. Contemporary life in this region absorbs both this impression and the enduring threat of history’s repetition, yet, isn’t overcome by a nostalgia that confines it. Like everywhere, people go on living, as Gianfranco Rosi’s 2025 film Pompei: Below the Clouds goes to show.

READ

Notes from the Recording No. 2: Pastoral

In the second instalment of Notes From the Recording, we turn towards Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony through the lens of vinyl culture featuring a recording by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Moving between personal listening reflections and broader musical history, this instalment considers how recordings of the Sixth Symphony have long wrestled with Beethoven’s own resistance to overt programmatic storytelling, while also reflecting on the nostalgia and visual language that surround classical records themselves. As with the series’ first entry, this entry treats the act of listening not simply as consumption, but as a lived ritual shaped by memory, collecting, and the physicality of recorded sound.

READ

The Tempest
By William Shakespeare | Directed by Antoni Cimolino
Exiled from Milan by his treacherous brother, Antonio, the former Duke Prospero has lived on a remote island for 12 years with his daughter, Miranda. There, through his study of magic, he commands the spirit Ariel and rules over the island’s otherworldly inhabitants, including the creature Caliban. When the ship carrying Antonio, Alonso, the King of Naples, and Alonso’s son Ferdinand passes nearby, Prospero conjures a powerful storm to bring them ashore. As the castaways are separated and led through strange trials, Prospero sets in motion a plan for justice, reconciliation and renewal – while Miranda and Ferdinand’s unexpected encounter opens the possibility of a brighter future.

Guys and Dolls
Music and Lyrics by Frank Loesser | Directed by Donna Feore
Set in bustling Manhattan in 1949, Guys and Dolls follows a colourful cast of gamblers, showgirls and mission workers whose lives collide in unexpected ways. Nathan Detroit scrambles to secure a venue for his famed but illicit craps game, all while trying to keep the peace with his devoted fiancée, Miss Adelaide. To raise the money he needs for the game, Nathan makes a daring wager with slick high-roller Sky Masterson – a bet that sends Sky straight into the path of earnest missionary Sarah Brown. As schemes unfold and loyalties are tested, romance, chance and charm weave together in this classic musical comedy.

Something Rotten!
Music/Lyrics by Wayne & Karey Kirkpatrick | Directed by Donna Feore
In the vibrant world of Renaissance London, brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom are determined to make their mark as playwrights – no easy feat when their flashy rival, William Shakespeare, is the toast of the town. Struggling for inspiration and desperate for a hit, Nick turns to an eccentric soothsayer whose wild prediction sends the brothers down an unexpected theatrical path. As they attempt to create something boldly new, they find themselves caught between ambition, rivalry, romance and the demands of showbiz. Their quest for originality unleashes a cascade of misunderstandings, surprises and theatrical mayhem in a world on the cusp of artistic change.

Exclusive Cannopy interview with Director Donna Feore

READ

Waiting for Godot
By Samuel Beckett | Directed by Molly Atkinson

Vladimir and Estragon, two old friends, wait endlessly near a lone tree on a desolate stretch of land, hoping the mysterious Godot will arrive and give their lives some sense of direction. As they pass the time, their conversations drift from the mundane to the philosophical, revealing both the humour and the hardship of their shared vigil. Their waiting is interrupted by two peculiar travellers – Pozzo and Lucky – whose strange dynamic adds to the play’s questions about purpose, control and companionship. As day turns to night and certainty slips further away, the two friends continue to wait, unsure of what tomorrow may bring.

Death of a Salesman
By Arthur Miller | Directed by Dean Gabourie

Willy Loman, an aging travelling salesman, grapples with the fading promise of the American Dream as his career falters and his sense of purpose slips away. Haunted by memories and regrets, he drifts between past and present, clinging to hopes he once held for himself and for his sons. Biff, once the focus of Willy’s ambitions, returns home disillusioned, and their fractured relationship forces both men to confront painful truths about success, identity and expectation. As financial pressures mount and family tensions rise, Willy’s grasp on reality loosens, leading the Lomans to reckon with the cost of aspiration and the fragile line between hope and delusion.

Sotto Voce reviews Death of a Salesman

The Cannopy Newsletter

'Death of a Salesman' at Stratford Festival

Stratford Festival’s 2026 season is well underway, and Cannopy sent its trusted performing arts critic, Sotto Voce, to review some of the most anticipated theatre productions of this season…

Read more

3 months ago · 1 like · CANNOPY

The Hobbit
Based on the book by J.R.R. Tolkien | Directed by Pablo Felices-Luna
Comfort-loving Hobbit Bilbo Baggins is swept into an unexpected adventure when the Wizard Gandalf enlists him to accompany Thorin Oakenshield and his band of Dwarves on a perilous quest to reclaim their home beneath the Lonely Mountain from the Dragon Smaug. Along the journey across Middle-earth, Bilbo faces Trolls, Goblins, Elves, giant spiders and the creature Gollum, from whom he acquires a mysterious and powerful ring. Through resourcefulness and courage, Bilbo grows into an unlikely hero, proving indispensable to the Company as their journey culminates in a great battle that determines the fate of the mountain and its inhabitants.

The Importance of Being Earnest
By Oscar Wilde | Directed by Krista Jackson
Jack Worthing and his friend Algernon Moncrieff create elaborate alter egos to escape the rigid expectations of Victorian society. Jack masquerades as his mischievous brother Ernest in London, while Algernon invents an invalid friend, Bunbury, to justify frequent countryside escapes. Jack wants to marry Gwendolen Fairfax, who is convinced she can only love a man named Ernest. Meanwhile, Algernon pursues Jack’s ward Cecily, who is already infatuated with “Ernest.” Their tangled web of lies begins to unravel under the sharp scrutiny of Lady Bracknell, whose disapproval threatens all romantic prospects. As accusations mount and engagements crumble, a long-buried secret from Jack’s past resurfaces – one that may unravel every lie he’s told or finally make him worthy of the name Ernest.

Saturday, Sunday, Monday
By Eduardo de Filippo | Directed by Antoni Cimolino
In this comic masterpiece, a lively Neapolitan household is thrown into turmoil when a simmering marital rift between the family matriarch and her withdrawn husband comes to a boil. As emotions flare and generations clash, laughter and love guide the family toward reconciliation and a deeper understanding of one another.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
By William Shakespeare | Directed by Graham Abbey
Hermia and Lysander are devoted to one another, but her father forbids their marriage and insists she wed Demetrius, with whom Hermia’s best friend Helena is besotted. Hoping to escape her father’s demands, Hermia and Lysander flee into the forest, with Demetrius and a determined Helena close behind. There, Oberon, king of the fairies, sets an enchantment on his queen, Titania – and, through the meddling of Puck, Oberon’s jester, the four lovers are unwittingly ensnared in the magic’s confusion. Meanwhile, Puck tangles with a troupe of amateur actors, heightening the night’s mischief. As night deepens, identities blur, lovers quarrel, fairies and mortals intermingle, and the boundaries between dream and reality dissolve. What resolution will the dawn bring?

Othello
By William Shakespeare | Directed by Haysam Kadri
Othello, a respected general in Venice, secretly marries the noblewoman Desdemona, defying societal expectations and drawing scrutiny. Soon after, he is deployed to Cyprus, accompanied by his loyal lieutenant Cassio and the seemingly devoted Iago. Beneath his façade of service, however, Iago conceals deep resentment and begins plotting revenge to destroy Othello’s happiness and professional standing. By planting false evidence and preying on Othello’s insecurities, Iago convinces him that Desdemona has been unfaithful with Cassio. As jealousy corrodes Othello’s trust, alliances fracture and tensions escalate, plunging everyone into emotional turmoil. With deception tightening its grip and reason slipping away, the stage is set for a devastating reckoning that neither love nor honour will survive.

The Tao of the World
By Jovanni Sy 施崇梵 | World Première | Directed by Jovanni Sy
In this world première, Singapore’s wealthy elite hatch schemes to bed other people’s partners and swindle one another out of dynastic fortunes. This inventive mash-up of Restoration comedy and the modern Asian rom-com is filled with hilarity, romance and billionaires misbehaving.

The King James Bible Play
By Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman | Directed by Nina Lee Aquino
A gripping and humorous portrait of the men behind the monumental translation of the King James Bible and a group of modern women creating a play about that process, this world première is a fascinating interrogation of translation in all its forms.

Pompei: Below the Clouds

CINEMA — With lots of reverence and little romanticism, director Gianfranco Rosi delivers an unprecedented portrait of Naples

The soil, air, and sea beneath Mount Vesuvius is steeped in memories that recount the catastrophic 79 AD eruption which interred the prosperous Roman city of Pompeii and its populace. Contemporary life in this region absorbs both this impression and the enduring threat of history’s repetition, yet, isn’t overcome by a nostalgia that confines it. Like everywhere, people go on living, as Gianfranco Rosi’s 2025 film Pompei: Below the Clouds goes to show.

READ

Death of a Salesman at Stratford Festival

THEATRE | Arthur Miller’s classic feels newly urgent in an era of AI anxiety, economic precarity, and generational uncertainty.

Stratford Festival’s 2026 season is well underway, and Cannopy sent its trusted performing arts critic, Sotto Voce, to review some of the most anticipated theatre productions of this season. First stop: Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.

READ

Your Guide to this year’s Toronto Summer Music Festival

MUSIC — 10 Must-See Concerts at the 2026 Festival, plus an Exclusive Sit-Down with Incoming Artistic Director William Fedkenheuer

The first time I attended the Toronto Summer Music Festival, back in 2019, I remember milling about in Walter Hall during intermission at a concert when this elderly man came up to me. We locked eyes just across the way when he started making his way over, and immediately I thought, “uh oh, here we go, brace for impact...”

READ + LISTEN

Allison Russell: Are You In Love?

MUSIC — The Canadian-American artist talks love and shares the latest single from her upcoming third studio album, “In the Hour of Chaos”.

For the next issue of Cannopy Magazine, we’re asking artists a simple question: Are You In Love? We want to get a sense of how they fell in love with their latest project, and how the many loves of their lives can be channeled into one artistic vessel. Next up: Allison Russell

LISTEN

Sound of Falling

CINEMA — Rural decay, inherited trauma, long silences—when did arthouse cinema become so predictable?

Trauma. Memory. Grief. One begins to suspect there exists somewhere a pan-European grant application where applicants simply circle three approved nouns and receive €800,000 and a Cannes slot. This is not entirely the fault of the filmmakers. The economics of contemporary arthouse cinema practically require this kind of internationally legible seriousness.

READ

Caroline Ji: Are You In Love?

VISUAL ARTS — In this Studio Sessions conversation, the Toronto artist traces the colours, spaces, and questions shaping her evolving practice.

For the next issue of Cannopy Magazine, we’re asking artists a simple question: Are You In Love? We want to get a sense of how they fell in love with their latest project, and how the many loves of their lives can be channeled into one artistic vessel. Next up: Toronto’s Caroline Ji

LISTEN

Notes from the Recording No. 2: Pastoral

In the second instalment of Notes From the Recording, we turn towards Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony through the lens of vinyl culture featuring a recording by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Moving between personal listening reflections and broader musical history, this instalment considers how recordings of the Sixth Symphony have long wrestled with Beethoven’s own resistance to overt programmatic storytelling, while also reflecting on the nostalgia and visual language that surround classical records themselves. As with the series’ first entry, this entry treats the act of listening not simply as consumption, but as a lived ritual shaped by memory, collecting, and the physicality of recorded sound.

READ

Sunday Special #1

Featuring Stephan Moccio, Hali Sofala-Jones, Jon Batiste, and an Arugula salad

Sunday Special is a new series we’re starting to capture our editorial content in a Sunday dish. This is a straightforward offering: one Sunday a month we’ll arrive in your inbox with a mix of music, poetry, something for your kitchen, and a fitting editorial highlight.

DISCOVER

Politics and art have always shared an uneasy address, and this issue we lean into that tension. In our RADARt feature, we ask what an NDP government would actually mean for arts and culture in Canada—not through the usual lens of funding announcements, but through the more elemental question of time: who has it, who doesn’t, and what we do with it when we finally get it back. Elsewhere, we spotlight the Canadian premiere of Ken Kelleher's ANCHORBALL at the Royal Botanical Gardens, the opening night of Toronto Summer Music with Les Arts Florissants at Koerner Hall, and a season of Southern Ontario events stretching from a vogue ballroom night at Buddies in Bad Times to an Afrofuturist solo exhibition in Hamilton. In Cannopy Kudos, we recognize the courage of violinist Lara St. John, whose documentary Dear Lara demands accountability from the institutions that have long protected predators. As always, this is your guide to what's happening across the province — and a reminder that the time you spend with it is, itself, a small act of resistance.

Restaurant highlights — The culinary arts can be easily overlooked in conversations that center the visual and performing arts, so we want to capture this unique part of the industry through brief profiles that focus on aesthetic presentation of everything from the decor to the menu design.

Short interviews with arts administrators ─ Administrators are what make the art world go round, and as we advocate for workers taking more ownership of their work, it is important to hear directly from them and see how their vision aligns with or contrasts the vision of the institutions they work for. This segment provides short textual interviews with the folks that run the business end of your favourite arts organizations, with insight on how their role contributes to a stronger arts and culture industry.

Architectural highlights ─ Art and architecture go hand in hand, so with this series we want to capture some of the architectural marvels and blunders that contribute to Southern Ontario’s increasingly dynamic cityscapes. Along the way we hope you’ll discover new buildings worth travelling to, or perhaps a new lens on places that you’ve always overlooked.

Art & Politics ─ If politics is downstream of culture, and art is upstream of culture, then it is important to trace the ways that political decisions and operatives shape the art that we see (and don’t see) in our publicly-funded institutions. This series would spotlight specific political trends and how they intersect with the art industry.

Weather forecast ─ Sometimes you just need a bird’s eye view snapshot of the weather forecast across Southern Ontario that might be just the thing you need to plan your next weekend getaway!

Issue 16 invites you to take a long, slow walk — through boardwalks, backstreets, and creative nooks — where the coffee is hot, the leaves are turning, and your favourite song plays on loop. Across 100 pages, and spanning twelve editorial series, we encounter over 30 artists who redefine presence: from Toronto’s dance and jazz scenes to London’s Afro-fusion rhythms and Paris’s experimental stages.

In the second instalment of Notes From the Recording, Cannopy turns toward Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony through the lens of vinyl culture featuring a recording by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Moving between personal listening reflections and broader musical history, this instalment considers how recordings of the Sixth Symphony have long wrestled with Beethoven’s own resistance to overt programmatic storytelling, while also reflecting on the nostalgia and visual language that surround classical records themselves. As with the series’ first entry, this entry treats the act of listening not simply as consumption, but as a lived ritual shaped by memory, collecting, and the physicality of recorded sound.