Harbourfront Centre 2008

Harbourfront Centre WORLD ROUTES 2008 Summer Events (June through September) Also including summer events for The Power Plant, Summer Music in the Garden, Luminat’Eau and Franco-Fête

Harbourfront Centre presents top Canadian and International artists in music, dance, theatre, visual arts and film at each World Routes weekend starting June 26 to September 1. All festivals are FREE and suitable for all ages. World Routes is presented by RBC. Visitors can also shop and eat at the International Marketplace and at The World Café nestled alongside an extensive waterfront boardwalk.For World Routes 2008, Harbourfront Centre engages an exploration into the idea of borders. Harbourfront Centre is located at 235 Queens Quay West, Toronto.

For more information on all events the public can call 416-973-4000 or visit www.harbourfrontcentre.com

A Rocky Mountain High: The Banff Centre (June 27 to 29) - Presented by Banff Lake Louise Tourism - Part of World Routes Celebrate The Banff Centre's 75th anniversary with a festival of dance, theatre, music and film inspired by this world-renowned arts centre and its spectacular mountain setting.

World Routes Concerts (June 30, July 2 and July 3) Rare free weekday evening concerts at the SIRIUS Satellite Radio Stage by internationally known performers like Dub Reggae legend Lee Scratch Perry (June 30), Afrobeat royalty Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 (July 2) and a performance by Senegalese Afro Soul and Jazz icons Orchestra Baobab (July 3).

Canada Day (Tuesday July 1) - Part of World Routes In the spirit of history and family, this festival celebrates all that Canada has to offer. Featuring live music, film, visual arts and family events all day and into the night.

Beats, Breaks & Culture ( July 4 to July 6) - Presented by NOW Magazine - Part of World Routes The fifth anniversary of one of North America's leading electronic music and culture festivals plugs into the latest currents of modern musical expression.

Ritmo y Color (July 11 to July 13) - Part of World Routes This long running biannual Latin American festival visits the vibrant cultural arts scenes of Latin artists from abroad and from across Canada.

Celebrating tIRgAN (July 18 to July 20) - Part of World Routes This inaugural festival reveals the diversity and vitality of Persian culture with performances from prominent international, Iranian and Canadian artists.

What Is Classical? (July 25 to July 27) - Part of World Routes This new festival beckons audiences to question definitions of classical music with performances from a variety of global classical music genres and styles.

Island Soul (August 1 to August 4) - Part of World Routes A kaleidoscope of cultures that is the Pan-Caribbean diaspora. Food demonstrations, dance and music from renowned Reggae, Soca. Crep;e and Calypso artists.

South Asia Calling (August 8 to August 10) - Part of World Routes Showcasing the diversity of South Asian culture through music, film, dance, theatre, literature and comedy. With a focus on contemporary performance, South Asia Calling will incorporate all generations by presenting the icons of the region and their impact on the greater South Asian culture.

Hot and Spicy Food Festival (August 15 to August 17) - Presented by NOW Magazine - Part of World Routes The 11th edition of this popular festival features local, international and celebrity chefs dishing up hot, sweet and spicy cuisine in demonstrations and at workshops, panel discussions and tutored tastings. Live music and dance enrich the palette of food events along with the return of the fifth annual Iron Chef Competition and the Red Hot Market.

TELUS TAIWANfest: World in an Island (August 22 to August 24) - Part of World Routes Celebrate the cultural treasures of this beautiful Island with performances from artists directly from Taiwan and from Canadian artists of Taiwanese heritage. This year the festival explores in performance and in exhibitions the intermingling of Dutch, Canadian, Japanese, Indigenous Peoples and Chinese heritage into the cultural history of Taiwan.

The Ashkenaz Festival (August 26 to September 1) - Part of World Routes One of the largest and most prestigious festivals of its kind anywhere in the world, The Ashkenaz Festival 2008 will once again feature the best and brightest of the global Yiddish/Jewish culture scene: from traditional and boundary-breaking Klezmer, Yiddish, and Mid-eastern music, to diverse offerings in theatre, film, visual arts, and literature, plus family programming, interactive music and dance workshops, and the famous Ashkenaz Parade! Co-produced by the Ashkenaz Foundation. More information at www.ashkenazfestival.com

Additional Exciting Summer 2008 Events at Harbourfront Centre:

The Power Plant Summer exhibitions (June 7 to September 1) - Not Quite How I Remember It Highlighting forms of reenactment and reconstruction, Not Quite How I Remember It combines the work of Canadian and international artists to investigate how we channel, mediate and memorialize history. Through projects that reanimate and recreate iconic and obscure events, cultural artifacts and artworks, the exhibition explores the anachronistic place of the past within the present. Works in the exhibition build on modernist strategies of montage and appropriation as well as cultural practices of sampling and remixing. Recognizing the slippage between fiction and documentary which underlie all historical accounts, they treat the past as a work-in-progress. In so doing, they throw light on timely issues of authorship, ownership, subjectivity, identification, influence, and collectivity. For more information on this exhibition and on The Power Plant's hours and ongoing events please visit www.thepowerplant.org

Luminat’Eau: Carnival H2O (June 13 to June 15) This weekend-long spectacular finale festival for the 2008 Luminato festival will transform the waterfront into a nexus of creativity and celebration.

Free events for all ages on multiple outdoor stages draw inspiration from a range of water carnivals, celebrations and imagery. Luminat’eau will focus on the universal themes of: Birth and Rebirth, Sacred, Life Force, Journey.

Coproduced with Luminato.

Franco-Fête 2008 (June 21): Francophones, francophiles and French culture lovers come in large numbers to this free event par excellence for the Greater Toronto Area: La Franco-Fête. For the 26th edition, celebrate and share French culture with a day of festivities for the entire family and a unique evening show (www.franco-fete.ca).

Summer Music in the Garden (June 29 through September 14) Summer Music in the Garden showcases an eclectic array of music and dance performances that reflect the exuberance, poetry and fantasy of the Toronto Music Garden, and of Johann Sebastian Bach—the composer who inspired it.

Summer Music in the Garden presents 20 free outdoor concerts and dance performances with approximately 80 performers, taking place on Thursday evenings at 7 p.m. and on most Sundays at 4 p.m. The popular free guided garden tours led by volunteers from the Toronto Botanical Garden return for another season, taking place on Wednesdays at 11 a.m. from June 4 to September 24, and on Thursdays before every concert at 5:30 p.m. from July 3 to September 11. Self-guided audio tours are also available for a nominal fee.

The 2008 season opens on Sunday June 29 with music for cello ensemble - a tribute to the venue, which "translates" Bach’s first suite for solo cello into horticulture. This year presents Paul Widner (director), Garrett Knecht, Peter Cosbey and Alastair Eng in an eclectic program to launch the concert series. Summer Music in the Garden is programmed for Harbourfront Centre by Artistic Director, Tamara Bernstein. Toronto Music Garden programmes are produced by Harbourfront Centre in partnership with City of Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation. Summer Music in the Garden is made possible through the generosity of Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation, Toronto Culture, and Jim and Margaret Fleck. The Toronto Music Garden is a City of Toronto park, located on the city’s waterfront at 475 Queens Quay West (on the water’s edge side), between Bathurst Street and Spadina Avenue.

It is wheelchair-accessible and open year-round.