Doors Open 2019

Another year has come and gone, and it's the end of May, and time for another Doors Open celebration. It was both cloudy and sunny this year, with an occasional sprinkle (or shower) of rain.

I chose five locations this year, one relatively close to home, and the rest in the downtown core.


The first stop was in the East Chinatown area, near Broadview and Gerrard, St. Matthew's Anglican Church. I've walked past here many times in my perambulations; it's one of the many modest "neighbourhood" churches in Toronto, originally built for parishioners in the immediate area.

First built (on a smaller scale) in the 1870s, the church was reconstructed in neo-Gothic style at this location on First Avenue around 1890.
The hexagonal bell tower and adjoining chimney are unusual touches.

Once inside, you can see the nave is quite large, with arches on one side, and stained-glass windows on the other.
Also, there a nice wooden rood screen just before you get to the chancel area.

Over the altar, there's more intricate carved wood, and figures of (presumably) saints on either side of the large stained-glass window. I didn't find out who they were, but if they are saints, it's probably safe to say one of them's St. Matthew!

Here's a closer look at the window above the altar.
The bottom is a reproduction of DaVinci's "Last Supper," and the middle area depicts Christ's ascension into heaven.

This modest stained-glass window is the only piece of the original church they kept after moving to this location.

The church's organ is yet another Casavant Freres instrument, one of many in Toronto's churches. The console was closed, unfortunately, so I didn't get a picture of it.
But I thought it was cool of them to remove some of the paneling in front of the actual organ pipes, to show what they really look like. As in pretty much every church that has them, the brass "pipes" above them are just for show.

Moving along, a streetcar ride (still loving those new streetcars!) brought me to this area, for a look at the Alumnae Theatre, at Adelaide and Berkeley. Built in 1905, it was originally Toronto's Firehall No. 4.
You'll notice the huge windows in front; those were actually the doors of the fire hall, where they would wheel in the horse-drawn fire trucks for storage (there were stables for the horses, as well).
The city was going to demolish this building in the early 1970s, but the Alumnae Theatre Company successfully negotiated to have it converted to a theatrical space.

In this view from across Adelaide St., you can better see the tower that was added to the fire hall  some years later, as a place to hang wet canvas fire hoses that would rot if left wound up.

As the building is a working theatre, there were rehearsals going on at the time of the tours, so unfortunately, we weren't allowed to see the two performance spaces. But there were still things to see, like these lockers. They were originally the firemen's lockers, but now the company's actors use them!
You can also see some of the costumes from past productions on top of them.

At extreme right, you can see a corner of the bar, made from wood salvaged from the original building.

This fire pole is more of a nod to the building's past than the actual one. The circular frame at top may be the original (much of the wood in the lobby area has been repurposed - see above), but the pole was relocated for accessibility considerations.

There were several of these model stage sets on display; this one is from a 1977 production of the 1922 Russian theatrical romance/tragedy He, Who Gets Slapped.
This one was of interest to me, as I've read the play (in English, of course), and have also seen the 1924 Lon Chaney silent film based on it.

It was a shame that I couldn't see the performance spaces at the Alumnae Theatre, but it did give me a chance to catch another place that I had originally set aside - and was within easy walking distance! - Metropolitan United Church.
I've been to concerts here - and one Bach Walk stop some years ago - but never really explored the place.
After a disastrous fire in 1928, the whole 1872 building was reconstructed.
I've been very heartened recently by the beautiful job they've done restoring the outside to the original colour of its yellow bricks. It had looked terribly grey for many years.

Here's the view of the nave from the entrance.
It's Oxford Gothic in style, so there are both rounded (Norman) and pointed (Gothic) arches, though the ceiling is simple dark wood trusses.
There is seating here, and in the balcony, for 900.

The large stained-glass window above the chancel depicts scenes from Jesus Christ's life, with a depiction of Him at centre as king of heaven. The seven panels represent the seven days of the creation.

Note also this beautifully carved wooden screen below the window - the middle towers are possibly a representation of the Trinity?
I wonder if the Celtic-style cross at the centre is a nod to Toronto's Anglo-Saxon community.

The church's communion table features this amazing oak carving based on DaVinci's Last Supper. It is really breathtaking.

There are a lot of gorgeous stained-glass windows here, and this one at the west transept is a good example. It depicts Christ's ascension (hmm, I seem to have hit two churches this time around where I took pictures of the last supper and the ascension. Wonder if there's a pattern? Something for another time, I think...)

Finally, from the very back of the balcony, another view of the entire nave.
I would love to come back to this building anytime for a concert, especially one featuring the huge organ (8,000+ pipes!). Due to the abundance of hard surfaces, the acoustics here are excellent.

Next, the second of the three buildings I would take in this time around that have been added to and modernized: part of the original Toronto General Hospital at College & Queen's Park that is now known as the MaRS Discovery District.

This building is where Drs. Banting and Best discovered insulin.

Inside, at ground level, looking west, is this huge, multi-level atrium that joins the original building, at right, with the new annex, at left.

In the lower level is a lecture hall, where this young scientist was giving a lecture about artificial intelligence, and the possibilities of merging human and machine brains.
He is using the slide and quote of Tesla's Elon Musk as a starting point for his discussion.

From the fourth level, here is the view of the entire atrium, looking east this time, with the original building at left and the newer annex at right:

And, once again from ground level looking east, you can see some of the offices of the high-tech companies that have offices here. I saw Microsoft and AirBnB, as just two examples.

It had rained while I was in the MaRS building, but the sky cleared for my final stop, the Daniels Faculty at U of T.
It's another older building, within Spadina Circle, just north of College St. - originally U of T's Knox College - that has been joined to a newer building.
Here's the view from the north side of the just-opened annex:

Heading south along Spadina Circle, the junction of old and new:

And, from the southwest end of Spadina Circle, the original Knox College building - another which stood in forbidding disrepair until fairly recently.

Finally, a front-on view of the restored original, with its new name - Daniels Faculty (of Architecture, Landscape and Design) - prominent on the central tower.

I met with a friend here, and, with the help of a handy guide, explored the building's three floors.
I have to say, they've done a bang-up job joining the newer and older parts of this place; it's pretty seamless.
On the third floor were some models done by undergraduates of potential building technology. The one below, for instance, could be a concert hall of the future, using spiral shapes to enhance acoustics.

Some more models for future dwellings, based on natural, flexible shapes:

And, still more possibilities. Could you see apartment blocks in the future shaped like the models on the left, or a single dwelling like the one on the right, that kind of looks like a tepee?

As you see, there were tons of ideas.
I liked the one at lower right, that features walls and furniture that can be moved along the grooves in the floor area. The wall sections could provide shade for different times of day! Perhaps they would even be automated...lots of possibilities.

Also on the third floor, there were these full-size reproductions (photocopies?) of the original architectural drawings of Knox College. As a former draftsman, I find these fascinating - but my friend did, too!

And, on the second floor, there was even more "speculative architecture" on display.
Outside the room was a large collage of current Toronto neighbourhoods, called The Analytical Atlas of Toronto. Each print represents a two-square-kilometre view of a particular area. Mine's in there somewhere!

This is only one (downtown) section; the whole map was much larger.

Inside the room, there were several displays like this one, with an aerial view of a reclaimed neighbourhood, and floor plans for the type of building that could be put there, whether house or apartment.

Finally, who could resist getting a shot (from one of the windows of the original centre tower) of the south end of Spadina Circle, with Spadina Ave. rolling down to the new developments near the waterfront?

Well, once again, it was a great afternoon, exploring our past, present and possible future. It never fails to be fascinating and rewarding for me. I eagerly await next year's adventure.

Bach Walk 2019

When I started posting about the Bach Walk, I thought it might be a one-time thing.
Well, here we are, four years later, and it's an annual tradition now, and one I look forward to every spring.

This year, the locations were quite handy to me, being along the Danforth, literally about a half-hour walk from my home. If you know the area, you may have observed that there are several churches between Broadview and Pape, and these three were literally across the street from each other.

So, on a beautiful, clear (though cold) March 23, I got to the first location, Eastminster United, a place where I've enjoyed many classical music concerts.

The sanctuary here is spacious, and has very good acoustics, which I'm sure is what draws many musicians to it.

I've learned that a balcony seat here gives the best view, and the best sound!

I always get a good picture of the organ at every location, and this is Eastminster's Moeller organ. I couldn't find out its exact age, but it was dedicated in the 1950s. It's a more modest instrument than some I've seen, but it still produced a good sound.

The organist was Stefani Bedin, who had performed at a previous Bach Walk in the Kingsway area. She herself presented a program of "Bach the borrower (Organ Concerto after Vivaldi), Bach the teacher (chorale from the Orgelbuechlein), and Bach the master composer (Prelude and Fugue in C)"


Next, it was across the street to the simply-named Danforth Church.

Here, we were treated to some instrumental and vocal music, from various Cantatas and Oratorios.

This is a quite small space, and many chairs had to be brought in to accommodate the crowd, somewhere between 150 and 200 people by this time.

In this picture, you can see the players performing a piece from the Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn cantata.

At left is Daniel Bickle, another frequent performer at the Bach Walks. He is usually an organ soloist, but here is playing an electronic "harpsichord."
The young cellist, Julia Kim, whom you may be able to make out seated about centre, dazzled the crowd with a rendition of the prelude from Bach's Cello Suite No. 6 later on.


The final stop was St. Barnabas Anglican Church, just a short walk along the Danforth.

It's a lovely space inside, with a large nave, and lots of organ pipes. This is a view of the choir and altar.

There is also lots of beautiful stained glass here, mostly from the 1920s.
This enormous window at the narthex, for instance, depicts the ascencion of Jesus Christ, with the Apostles below and angels above.

And, naturally, I got a couple of shots of the (larger) organ here. It's a 1938 Casavant Freres instrument, and certainly produced a glorious sound.

Konrad Harley was the organist here, and expertly played a chorale, two preludes and fugues, and a Toccata and Fugue in D minor (no, not the "Phantom of the Opera" one - the other one!)

Then as usual, it was to the narthex for birthday cake and punch. One of the things I also enjoy about the Bach Walks is talking to other attendees, some of whom have been, like me, going to these since the beginning, and some for whom it's the first time. Whatever their experience, they always come away enthusiastic and eager for more - just like me!


I'm not a trained classical musician, but listening closely, especially to these fugues, I'm getting better at hearing how the opening themes repeat in different intervals, and even in inversions, and it's a lesson in composition and invention every time. My appreciation for this master musician grows with every hearing.

I look forward to the next year's celebration of Bach's birthday more and more each time.

TO Light Fest 2019

And so, it was on to the Distillery District for this year's edition of TO Light Fest. As before, there were some amazing pieces, and some familiar ones, too!

Unfortunately, this year, there were no maps given out with the names of the pieces; there were boards at each site with the title, artist and description, but I didn't photograph any of them, thinking I'd be able to get a map. I even e-mailed the organizers afterwards to see if there was a way I could get the titles, but never heard back. So, these pictures and videos will have to be shown with only my descriptions. I don't think it'll detract any from their beauty and inventiveness, though!

So, let's get to it. Pictures first...


This is a short tunnel of lighted tubes that changed colours as you walked up a shallow ramp and through it, in either direction:

Here was a cavern-like construction, again with ever-changing colours inside and out:

As people went inside and through the piece, the colours would change, according to their movements!

Here's a fun reminder of last year's show, the piece called Perspective, though it was mounted differently this year, for a slightly different...um...perspective.

This gigantic sculpture of a polar bear was in the main square of the Distillery District.
Different texts were being projected on to it, I believe ruminating on natural and indigenous aspects of Canada.

This "floating" sculpture of a grandmotherly face was at once comforting and somewhat unsettling...

This was pretty cool - a four-paneled screen, with a camera at each corner, reflecting the viewer back on themselves. You could be playful and demonstrative, or simply get a very unique selfie, as I did.

And, on to the videos...


Here's another fun piece from last year, Electric Dandelions.
It was moved to the west entrance/streetcar loop this time:

This was an interactive one; a person could step into this "cage," and the operator would spin the lighted tubes around as they stood inside it. I didn't try it myself (there was a lineup), but it must have been fun (and maybe a little disorienting?) in there!

Another interactive piece; there were two rods hanging down from either end of it, and people could tug on them to get a wave effect, as the colours changed and shifted:

This one was cool too, giving a kind of "mirrorball" effect, with lights reflecting on the walls on either side, as I tried to capture with my camera:

More fun for kids, as they trotted through this tunnel while the lights changed colour constantly.
You can see some of the reflections from the previous piece on the walls at right!

This was just gorgeous, a fascinating piece made from a twisted material, and featuring shifting colours at different areas. Almost hypnotic.

This was also spectacular, a brilliant rainbow of lit tubes, with colours shifting and flowing:

Here was another piece that many people wanted to pose with, a kind of "pulsing" heart-shaped piece, which featured recordings of Michael Buble singing (hence the "MB" at right).

This is my own composition, of several pieces through this square frame; you can see the "tunnel" that is in the first picture above, the "rainbow" sculpture, and a bit of the tubal one that is shown in the next video:

And, finally, the piece that you got a glimpse of in the last video; a really spectacular sculpture of brilliantly bright fluorescent-type tubes that really light up the whole area.

And so it ends for another year. I was able to score a seat and hot coffee at Balzac's again, and got well-warmed up before making my way home.

It was also cold and windy this day, but it's so worth braving it to see what amazing sights artists from here, and around the world, contribute to our city.


My next post should be about the upcoming Bach Walk; I see it's on March 23, and is along the Danforth - almost in my neighbourhood!
Stay tuned!