Saturday 23 October 2010

The excellent Radio 4 series 'A History of the world in 100 objects' has been keeping me entertained for months on the road. Here are all 100 in 5 minutes.


Monday 18 October 2010

Farewell Toronto 2

iPhone + MacBook + long flight = another little film.

Sunday 17 October 2010

Farewell Toronto


Preparing to leave Toronto, a little sad.

Anyone who has read this from the beginning know that all the places I work get under my skin and I go through an 'I love it here, I could live here' phase. Well Canada has REALLY got under my skin.

This country has all the optimism, freshness and opportunity of the US, but with a healthy dose of European humour. There is a very broad ethnic mix and there don't seem to be the undercurrents of unrest and resentment that come with that mix elsewhere in the world. The Canadians are truly welcoming, liberal and pleasant.

Cultural stereotypes are a politically incorrect but the more I travel the more I realise they are grounded in fact. And that's wonderful. Well the Canadians are as happy, pleasant and laid back as the stereotype suggests.

Could I live here? The winter puts me off, but apart from that yes, in a heartbeat. I certainly hope to be returning to this wonderful, interesting country and particularly to this utterly wonderful company.

Tuesday 12 October 2010

Niagara

Some of my movie clips from Niagara and the journey, finishing at Niagara-on-the-Lake - the shores of Lake Ontario. The music is by the fantastic Time for Three.

Niagara

To Niagara to see the famous Falls.

I came here 15 years ago and saw them in the depths of winter. Nothing was open, the Maid of the Mist boats were all beached up and the viewing platform was under 20 metres of ice. So to see it in sunshine and fine weather was great.
The Casinos and Hotels overlooking the Horseshoe Falls


The resort of Niagara offers the casual visitor many ways to part from their cash and proves that even the normally tasteful Canadians can be tacky, but it is a fun place.

However the main attraction, the Falls, don't disappoint. The scale is fantastic, particularly up close. It's a thrill to see that much water in motion.
The Falls throw up a cloud of water vapour which, when sunny, makes a permanent rainbow.

Then 12 kilometres up the road to Niagara-on-the-Lake, a beautiful little town full of colonial architecture from the mid 1800s. 

The main drag of the town is full of great shops, mostly one-offs, and it's a great place to spend a day.
The town is also home to the Shaw Festival, and my day was rounded off by a performance of Weil's One Touch of Venus at the gorgeous little Royal George Theatre.





Wednesday 6 October 2010

Being a Geisha

Image by Kondo Atsushi

There is one side of this business which I have always found impossible - the schmoozing. It's just something I'm really bad at. Selling myself, selling my ideas, I'm always very uncomfortable having to do it. I can do the job, but not talk about it.

Unfortunately as a Director you can't audition and if you are trying to get funding for a project, you have to sell the idea. If you don't schmooze, you lose!

I went with Yoshi to a sponsors event at Canadian Opera Company before the orchestral rehearsal last night. COC do these things very well - a great dinner followed by an informal chat with Yoshi followed by watching the rehearsal. A good peek at the creative process for around 70 people all of whom give between $2500 and $50000 a year to the company.

As we were walking up to the function room Yoshi turned to me and said 'So, tonight I am Geisha.' He then proceeded to go around each and every table introducing himself and me and thanking the donors personally for helping us to bring this show to Toronto. He didn't try to be 'the artist', or try to be too deep. He simply set out to please. 

Everyone was, of course, charmed and delighted and immediately on our side. He was the perfect Geisha, and I'm sure everyone enjoyed the evening immensely and gained a unique insight into the production as a result.

It clicked with me. Performing allows one to put on a character and so gives you licence to  do the things you need to do on stage - to sell the show. Being oneself in order to sell an idea is really difficult unless you naturally have that bent. So from now on I shall become a Geisha in such situations - it's much easier to put yourself out there determining to please and fulfil those you are meeting. It's an image which is a real enabler.

Sunday 3 October 2010

Day off




Relaxing day walking through the Riverview and Little Greece areas East of the centre of Toronto. Lots of lovely cafes, bakeries and some fabulous whole food places.

The highlight was brunch at a fab organic pub! Brunch doesn't get much better than this - organic eggs benedict with prosciuto, sun dried tomatoes, and asiago cheese with fried potato and greens with raspberry dressing. Every bit as good as it sounds.


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Saturday 2 October 2010

Cultural night in Toronto




This afternoon was the opening of the COC season and it kicked off with Aida, directed by Brit Tim Albery.

Though famous for its stirring choruses, Grand March, and a couple of show stopping arias, it isn't Verdi's finest opera. The plot and characters are thin and the dramatic structure a little odd: the first half is full of crowd pleasing noise and spectacle and all the dramatic value is crammed rather intensively into the shorter second half.

This is rather like the operatic equivalent of having your pudding first, then having to go back to eat some worthy unbuttered vegetables.

However this production really made the second half work. This was in part to the updated setting - instead of Pharoaonic Egypt, a 20th century totalitarian regime - which though it didn't work entirely in the first half, did set up the characters well for the second.

To take a deserved share of the credit however were the excellent Aida of Sondra Radvanovsky and the Amonasro of Scott Hendricks. Both artists sang and acted with utter conviction and sold to me characters whom I have previously found uninteresting.

After the opera, to the streets of Toronto for the annual Nuit Blanche - an all night series of art events and installations all over the city. A great atmosphere on the streets and a lovely way to experience the city.



Click for my YouTube clip of Nuit Blanche

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