It’s almost time for the Taste of the Danforth!

What is it?

Lori did a post covering the festival 2 years ago, but hopefully it won’t be rainy this year. Enjoy tons of yummy food, games, and shows all weekend!

Food?

Some food you may want to try: spanakopita (spinach pies) and loukoumades (honey balls) from Athens Bakery, kangaroo burgers from The Friendly Butcher, souvlaki, gyros, and backlava.

When is it?

August 5^th – August 7^th.

How do I get there?

The festival is super accessible by TTC. Just take the subway to Broadview, Chester, Pape, Donlands, or Coxwell station.

(If this doesn’t sound like your idea of a good time, or if you’re looking for even more stuff to do this weekend, you can also stop by the Brickworks Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning. You can take the free shuttle bus by Broadview station on Erindale, just north of Danforth.)

For more information, you can visit the Taste of the Danforth’s official website.

Toronto is a city full of history and interesting stories. So, to both longtime residents of our lovely city and newcomers that have come to study at U of T, did you know that:

• Front Street got its name because that’s where the waterfront used to be. The shoreline got moved down to Queen’s Quay because we filled the inner harbour for industrial development purposes.

• Yorkville wasn’t always the posh, high-end neighbourhood it is now. In fact, it used to be the place for hippies to hang out. A lot of artists got their start in Yorkville, and the first line in Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” (‘They paved paradise and put up a parking lot’) refers to a spot in Yorkville. That particular parking lot has since been transformed into the Village of Yorkville Park (the ‘park’ with the giant artificial rocks).

• The King Edward Hotel at King and Yonge is supposedly the most haunted building in Toronto, since it was built on a hanging yard.

• In the past, you could discern a person’s social class by the way they said, ‘Spadina’. If someone said ‘Spa-dee-nah’, they were of the upper class, while people of the lower class said, ‘Spa-die-nah’. Since there were more people in the lower class than the upper class, the latter pronunciation is the one used today.

• When the ROM’s crystal was in its final stages of construction, staff members signed one of the beams that forms the structure, immortalizing themselves forever within the museum. And yes, Daniel Libeskind designed the crystal on a napkin which is now in one of a ROM’s storage facility.

• The glass facade of the AGO is supposed to looked like a tipped canoe. Why Frank Gehry chose such an inauspicious symbol is beyond me.
• Chinatown used to be a little bit east of where it is now. Streets like Elizabeth Street and Chestnut Street used to be part of Chinatown. The Lee Benevolent Association at Dundas and Chestnut is a vestige of Chinatown’s previous location.
• Even though it’s one of the official languages of Canada, French is only the 12th most spoken language in Toronto.
• The Distillery District features some of most well-preserved examples of Victorian industrial architecture in North America.
• The CN Tower no longer holds the record for being the highest free-standing building in the world, but it still holds the record for having the world’s highest wine cellar.

Feel free to add these tidbits to your Repository of Completely Useless Information (aka ROCUI, which is a lot more fun than ROSI).

Post written by Kamil Amir.

There is no better way to experience another culture than through its food. Food embodies all the best that a culture has to offer while appealing to the five senses and touching the heart in the most profound way. Nothing portrays goodwill and harmony better than the image of people from various cultures sitting together sharing and a meal, laughing and rejoicing in a celebration of understanding.

With that in mind, the University of Toronto Dinner Club (UTDinner) was created.

Imagine a book club, but more delicious.

The main goal of the club is to celebrate the University of Toronto’s cultural diversity by sharing various recipes and cooking styles from around the world. So far, UTDinner has organized cooking sessions featuring Malaysian, Kazakh, Japanese, Polish, Italian, Chinese, Korean, Turkish, Russian, Bosnian, French, Macedonian, Bangladeshi and Senegalese cuisines. The next event, planned for June 17, will feature Lithuanian food (see below for information).

At the meetings, members learn to cook dishes from around the world. These cooking lessons are taught by UTDinner members or special guests. Everyone then sits down together to enjoy the food. Yummy!

However, the benefits of the club go beyond the delicious food – UTDinner provides a great opportunity to make friends and learn about other cultures.

To learn more about UTDinner and their events, email Yayo or check out http://utdinner.herobo.com/. Your taste buds will dance with excitement!

Lithuanian Cooking Event

June 17, 2011 at 5PM (Location TBA)

A student of Lithuanian heritage will share her grandmother’s recipes.

Starters: Saltibarsciai (Cold Beet Soup) & Kugelis (Potato Pie)

Main: Cepelinai

Price: $10

Email Yayo to RSVP.

On May 11, 2011, blogUT Featured Blogger Danielle Klein spoke with Bradley Cooper while promoting his upcoming film, The Hangover: Part II.

While promoting the much-anticipated sequel to the 2009 hit The Hangover, Bradley Cooper is relaxed and confident. Prior to the release of the first film, the actor was humble and quiet in interviews; he expressed both uncertainty and hope for the success of the film. This time around, he more than hopes for success – he expects it, declaring rather boldly, “you can’t even argue that The Hangover II isn’t as good as the first one; it’s actually better.” (more…)

The Canadian Opera Company completes its trio of productions for the spring session with Cristoph Willibald Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice. The names Orfeo and Euridice may sound familiar to you because the opera is based on the story of Orpheus the lyre player, who literally went to hell and back in an attempt to bring his dead lover, Eurydice, back to life.

Orfeo ed Euridice was memorable for the simplistic sets and costumes that helped set the tone for the tragedy that drives the plot and raison d’être of the show. The cast consisted of very proficient actors who expressed their grief convincingly. However, in song, they were, for the most part, unmemorable.

Maybe my expectations for the opera were too high (my standard Orfeo is, after all, the goddess Maria Callas – the video linked here is one where she sings the most famous aria of the opera, but in French rather than Italian), but I felt that the sadness and the drama of the entire production was only conveyed by the brilliant mise-en-scene. The scene in hell was particularly well done and is perhaps the only thing that I will give special mention for this review. However, even this positive quality seems to have failed Orfeo ed Euridice at the end when Orfeo and the chorus are celebrating Euridice’s return to the land of the mortals. The cast’s black costumes and the barren set overpowered the celebratory song and it felt as if they were at a funeral of someone who wasn’t well-liked in life.

In any case, Orfeo ed Euridice is running from May 8th to May 28th at the Four Seasons Centre for Performing Arts. For those living on a student budget, rush tickets are $20 and are available starting at 11 AM the day of the performance. All rush tickets seats are in the 5th ring. If you are under the age of 30, you are eligible for Opera for a New Age tickets, which cost $22 and will get you seats in the 5th or 3rd ring.

For more information on Orfeo ed Euridice and the Canadian Opera Company, click here.

Since this is my last opera review for blogUT, I would like to end with a brief personal note.

I decided to review productions by the COC purely for the purpose of generating curiosity, in hopes that students will, at least once in their lives, attend an opera production. From reading my reviews, you can probably guess that I’m not an opera expert and I’m still learning the finer details of the art. However, I feel justified in writing the way I do and in expressing the opinions I have expressed because I want to introduce the art of opera to an audience who may initially be turned off by the conception that it’s a kind of art form where one needs a lot of prior knowledge to appreciate it. To some people, that may be true, but I don’t see why the average person can’t enjoy opera for its amusing plots or beautiful music. In the end, I hope that my reviews have generated some interest, because the opera is truly a magnificent experience that everyone can enjoy.

Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos is not an opera about Ariadne and her tale of woe and romance but a whimsical tale of an opera production going… in a way that it doesn’t usually go. The show follows an opera troupe who learns that they have to perform alongside a ‘vulgar’ comedy troupe at a nobleman’s dinner.

The first act, in which the audience follows the two troupes and observes their pre-show nervousness and anxiety about the changes being made to their productions, is wonderfully entertaining. A special mention goes to Alice Coote, who plays the talented but angsty composer of Ariadne auf Naxos (the opera in the opera). Her superb acting and voice brings us the highs and lows as the composer goes into his diva-esque fits at the prospect of having his opera changed.

Another special mention goes to Jane Archibald, who plays the feisty and flirty Zerbinetta. She’s the star of the second act, which shows the result of the mash-up of the two productions, where her voice and spunky personality is the cause of much laughter. When I went to the dress rehearsal, Amber Wagner, Adrianne Pieczonka’s understudy, took the role of Ariadne/the Prima Donna halfway through the production in act II. It seems that fate has been on my side, because Wagner seems to have taken the role for the current productions of the opera (until further notice). Wagner is a powerful singer whose voice should not be forever relegated to being an understudy.

Overall, the direction, set and costumes were appropriate and did not detract from the performance or the libretto of the opera. The show was absolutely brilliant and is sure to draw a few laughs – I highly recommend it. A few opera virgins came with me to this production and were as delighted by it as I was.

Ariadne auf Naxos is running from April 30th to May 29th at the Four Seasons Centre for Performing Arts. For those living on a student budget, rush tickets are $20 and are available starting at 11 AM the day of the performance. All rush tickets seats are in the 5th ring. If you are under the age of 30, you are eligible for Opera for a New Age tickets, which cost $22 and will get you seats in the 5th or 3rd ring.

For more information on Ariadne auf Naxos and the Canadian Opera Company, click here.

Thanks for reading! I will be reviewing Orfeo ed Eurydice in a few days. Enjoy!

La Cenerentola is running from April 23rd to May 25th at the Four Seasons Centre for Performing Arts. For people running on a student budget, rush tickets are $20 and are available starting at 11 AM the day of the performance.  If you are under the age of 30, you are eligible for Opera for a New Age tickets for $22.

After a short hiatus in March, the Canadian Opera Company returns with three new productions: La Cenerentola (Cinderella), Ariadne auf Naxos and Orfeo ed Eurydice. I will be reviewing all three of them over the course of the next few weeks. The first of the operas to start its run is Gioachino Rossini’s La Cenerentola, which is an operatic version of the classic fairy tale, Cinderella.

Overall, the COC presents a whimsical production that is sure to draw out a few laughs during the entire performance. The libretto (or lyrics) is clever and humourous and the music, lively and energetic. A special mention goes to the orchestra who played a captivating overture – a delightful piece of music to listen to but I felt that the energy of the piece would have been better conveyed if there was some sort of action on stage. Another special mention belongs to the leading lady, Elizabeth DeShong, who played a vocally enchanting Angelina (Cinderella). There were many times where I felt that her arias were much too short and I wished that they could go on forever.

Clorinda and Tisbe, played by Ileana Montabetti and Rihab Chaieb respectively were well cast as the comical and yet snotty evil stepsisters. Lawrence Brownlee played Prince Ramiro and although he was absolutely enchanting in arias that involved wooing and love, I felt that he was a little weak when playing the role of an authoritative monarch. In one part when he sings on how he is absolutely furious and determined to find the mysterious girl with whom he is in love with, my friend commented, “He was probably the least threatening prince I’ve ever seen.” Perhaps the power behind Brownlee’s voice will reveal itself eventually but in the meantime, I would really like to see him sing in a role with more lyrical arias. Sadly, I also felt that the other male cast members – Cinderella’s stepfather, Don Magnifico, the prince’s valet, Dandini and the prince’s tutor, Alidoro – sounded similar and were a bit forgettable once their songs were over.

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