We went to Jazz Lives last week. It took place in Koerner Hall. I consider this to be Toronto's premier music hall. Built in 2009, its location on Bloor Street with the lobby facing south, makes for a wonderful view of Philosopher's Walk below. It has beautiful views of the downtown and the CN Tower in the distance.
Inside the hall, the architecture is stunning. The curved lines of the ceiling wood were described in the Globe and Mail's review when the hall opened:
"Twisting, undulating ribbons of wood that seem to swim according to their own hard-driving rhythm have been suspended below the 65-foot-high ceiling. Looking up, a visitor sees the ribbons speed along the ceiling like a school of fish. Apertures for lights and rigging points are placed within the split of the wooden ribbons."
We've been present for some amazing performance spaces being built in Toronto. As the Globe and Mail article indicates: "The unveiling of Koerner Hall marks the final chapter in the massive program of cultural SuperBuild projects in Toronto. Launched in 2000, the Ontario SuperBuild program provided significant kick-start funds that allowed for a major redesign of the Royal Ontario Museum by Studio Daniel Libeskind; the Four Seasons facility for the Canadian Opera Company and the National Ballet by Diamond + Schmitt Architects; the reinvention of the Art Gallery of Ontario by Gehry + Partners; a new home base for Canada's National Ballet School by Goldsmith Borgal & Co. with Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg; and two other projects by KPMB: an addition to the George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art and an updating of Roy Thomson Hall." The entire article is HERE.
These halls will be joined by Massey Hall - soon to close for two years for its rebirth. The Massey Hall Revitalization is a seven-year project. It will get an expanded footprint along with the full restoration of the exterior and interior of the building. you can send 'renderings' of what the hall will be like HERE.
The notice says no photographs and no recordings whatsoever in the Hall, so an ubiquitous iPhone has captured the scene.
