Window Into the Arts
Tuesdays, Sept. 22 – Oct. 27th, 2020
1:30 – 3:30 pm
Tickets on Sale August 25
$60 for the series
Livestreamed into Your Home
Presented on Zoom
Albert Einstein said: “Art is standing with one hand extended into the universe and one hand extended into the world, and letting ourselves be a conduit for passing energy.”
We know Third Age Barrie’s audience enjoys art in many forms. This 6-part series on various art forms – visual art, music, theatre, language and architecture, takes us from enjoyment, to appreciation at a whole new level. Six presenters bring their energy to Third Age Barrie this fall to provide a window into how these various art forms are created and how to appreciate them. They will take us through the creative process from inspiration to production, and the impact of art that broadens our view of the world and all its possibilities.
September 22: In Search of “The Lady of the Camellias”
Presenter: Iain Scott, Opera Educator and Tour Leader
Why is Verdi’s “La Traviata” the most frequently performed opera in the world today, well ahead of “La Boheme” and “Carmen” and “Aida”? Because every note and phrase has psychological significance and unexpected insight. Iain will show us how this brilliant work transforms and adapts the accepted conventions of 19th century Italian opera. He will show how Verdi used a fascinating contemporary figure – Marie Duplessis, to change the art form for ever.
September 29: Making Theatre Possible
Presenter: Arkady Spivak, Artistic Producer, Talk is Free Theatre, with Guests Derek Kwan and Michael Torontow
In many ways, live theatre is legalized magic. However, no one, including theatre makers themselves, can totally predict how it all clicks into place, and how some shows become legendary, while others… not so much. What is known is that, like all magic, it has to look seamless. On the other hand, is it magic if you don’t know how it is made? Please join Talk Is Free Theatre’s Founding Artistic Producer and his guests to offer an inside look into professional theatre-making, including:
- The job of the Artistic Producer – what they do
- How programming happens, how or why certain works get selected, using specific examples
- What happens from deciding to produce a work to its opening night
- What is unique, and challenging, about live theatre as a profession.
October 6: Just Picasso
Presenter: Osnat Lippa, Digital Artist and Photographer
Picasso needs no introduction; the most famous and prolific genius of 20th century art, he was a trailblazing revolutionary figure controversial for his art and the treatment of his many women; lovers, wives and models…he none-the-less was productive every day of his life creating around 50,000 pieces of work that still mesmerize, surprise and grip us.
A groundbreaking exhibition ‘Picasso Painting the Blue Period’ is coming to the AGO in Toronto, postponed to 2021. The show will focus on Picasso’s famous Blue Period (1901-1904) and is one of many shows around the world in recent years that highlight the breadth and scope of Picasso’s long and prolific career. Relentless experimentation, multitude of styles and mediums, the ability to knock you out with a powerful image; Picasso never ceases to challenge our ideas about modern art and what it means to be human.
October 13: Architecture – Now I Get It! Understanding the Elements of Architecture
Presenter: Marta O’Brien, Architectural Historian
Architecture is everywhere; it affects our daily experience of a street, a neighbourhood, and a city — often subconsciously. In addition, we see many more buildings than we will ever enter or use. How important is it for us to like such buildings? Building can be a source of pleasure. They can positively affect our experience of a place and raise our spirits. Conversely, a building can make us feel uneasy or even intimidated.
This stimulating talk will help you really see the architecture around you, and facilitate your understanding of why you feel as you do observing a building. Architectural Historian Marta O’Brien will reveal the components of a building’s exterior, including ornament, materials, colour, and proportion. We’ll see how the use of these elements has changed over the centuries and consider some of the ideological and technical reasons for the changes.
October 20: The Leonard Cohen Story
Presenter: Dr. Mike Daley
Leonard Cohen is one of Canada’s greatest musical and literary figures. Born in Montreal in 1934, he was an acclaimed young poet and novelist when he emerged as a singer-songwriter in 1966. His indelible compositions like “Suzanne,” “Bird On The Wire,” and “Hallelujah” made him world-famous until his death in 2016.
October 27: W A Mozart 1756 – 1791: The Musicians’ Musician and Everyman’s Composer
Presenter: Brian Carlile, Musician and Conductor
Our fascination with this creative genius par excellence has been the subject of myth, rumour and speculation for centuries despite an abundance of authoritative first hand documentary evidence of his life and thinking.
This talk will offer a modern-day performer’s perspective and try to explain why Mozart continues to be revered and feared in equal measure by professional musicians worldwide. “Too easy for amateurs and too hard for professionals” is an oft quoted warning! Despite this, he is the composer who speaks to everyone in some way.
Put simply, his music is so perfect it seems inevitable that we will fail every attempt to play it perfectly.
Examining the real facts around his life and work just amplifies the awe in which we all still hold him.
Venue: Zoom (Online)
Description:
You’ll receive the Zoom link from Canadian Webinar Solutions one week (and reminders one day and one hour) before the first session.