Series Season: 2022

Canada’s largest and longest-running literary festival, presented with a vision to inspire, empower and connect through the art of stories. 200+ events and activities on sale August 29, 2022. Stay up to date here.

What does it mean to engage in ongoing, life-long learning? How have changes in technology, behaviour, and attitudes toward work-life balance impacted the pursuit of academic, professional or personal growth? Can virtual learning replicate the outcomes of in-person learning or even exceed them? How will calling for increased accountability and authenticity in teaching and access […]

Jewellery is one of the oldest cultural identifiers. Over 120,000 years ago, prehistoric humans engaged in this aesthetic, adorning their bodies with shell necklaces. Much like contemporary art, contemporary jewellery expands our view of society, culture, the world-at-large and ourselves. It differentiates itself from other craft practices because it isn’t one material. It can be […]

Fusing traditional East African dance moves and rhythms with modern concepts and high-energy hip hop grooves, this dance workshop will teach you to find rhythm in your body and mind to groove, slide, jump and shout! 

Set 1: Her by Dianne Montgomery (TITDF Commission – extension from 2017)   Set 2: Dianne Walker – Title TBA (World Premiere) Featuring Residency Program Dancers  We begin with Dianne Montgomery’s Her. Originally commissioned as a 15 minute piece at the inaugural festival, this will be Montgomery’s extension into a 30 minute work. The second set highlights […]

Ashkenaz 2022 comes to a climactic finish with a series of performances by one of this year’s headlining artists. From Jewish bluegrass to Ukrainian klezmer, and from Ethiopian Israeli jazz to contemporary Sephardic/Ladino song, the variety and eclecticism of this festival will be on full display. The finale culminates in a massive jam session with […]

Chloe Pourmorady is an award-winning Persian American artist known for the versatility of her creative expression. She sings in over ten languages, plays violin, kamancheh and guitar and writes music in many different styles: instrumental, liturgical, folk, modal and more. Combining elements of the ancient with the modern, the avant-garde with the traditional and the […]

Saxophonist, vocalist and composer Abate Berihun is one of Israel’s most prominent Ethiopian musicians, known for his collaborations with artists such as Ariel Zilber, Ehud Banai, Yossi Fine, Kutiman, Anat Fort, Omri Mor, Shay Zelman and many others. Joined in his latest project by pianist Roy Mor, bassist David Michaeli and drummer Nitzan Birnbaum, he […]

Nefesh Mountain is one of today’s most formative bluegrass Americana bands. Their latest studio album, Songs for the Sparrows, is a testament to the imagination of their musicianship and creativity. Creators, band leaders and husband-and-wife team Doni Zasloff and Eric Lindberg are the heart of this eclectic quintet. The band is adept with string virtuosity in […]

Gephilte, a jam-band experiment in Yiddish funk, is the latest boundary-busting project from renowned Canadian Yiddish hip hop provocateur Josh “Socalled” Dolgin. Branching off from his internationally famous hip hop project and taking cues from his funk/klezmer supergroup Abraham Inc, Dolgin has brought together an ensemble of virtuosos to explore Yiddish repertoire. Less about stylistic […]

Cabaret meets The Producers in this uproariously edgy new show from the New York Times best-selling author Michael Wex. It’s March 15, 1938, and the censor’s office has just advised the performers in Warsaw’s Yiddish-language “Cabaret Yitesh” that tonight’s show will be their last. With visas to leave the country and nothing left to lose, […]

North America’s premier festival of Global Jewish music and culture returns! Ashkenaz 2022 will spotlight diverse musical expressions of the Jewish experience, including: Yiddish opera, Klezmer funk, Ethiopian-Israeli jazz, Jewish bluegrass, Judeo-Persian soul, Sephardic/Ladino folk, Roma and Ukrainian-Jewish music. Select events can be seen below, for the full list of festival events click here. Produced […]

The workshop is a basic calypso composing exercise, using a series of rhyming couplets and repetition to tell a story in eight lines of poetry. The workshop leaders will be the well-known bandleader and entertainer Shak Shak, award-winning composer Roger “Rajiman” Gibbs and recording artist and educator Henry “King Cosmos” Gomez.    They will give the […]

The songs that define our heritage and struggles tell stories rooted in the people and the community. More than politics, more than history, music is an experience of culture and identity that continues to echo across oceans. What is the sound of independence? Some of the familiar music Taiwanese people thought was their own turned […]

With the release and positive reception of their debut EP, the parts we could not abandon, cutsleeve is grateful to perform again, sharing songs that explore their queer diasporic experiences. From punk to alt-rock, you’ll hear music as diverse as the group itself. 

Ho Deng Music Ensemble is joining us in our return to in-person programming this year. Inspired by our connections to various cultures and each other through music, their performance will range from classic folk songs to modern tunes from Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia, across generations and time. 

How do we take care of ourselves and each other in a world that is crumbling before us? Janice Jo Lee presents a set of songs and poems about repair, courage and the healing power of water. Expect cascading vocal harmonies inspired by traditional Korean melody and American jazz harmony. Jo Lee will be joined […]

As reality shows like Infinity and Beyond gain popularity abroad for their take on golden oldies, CCT (Cha Chan Ting) aims to bring a unique twist to old favourites closer to home.   A tribute to famous Hong Kong rock band Beyond, each member brings a particular pizzaz to help create a sound to get you […]

Is Taiwanese culture the same as Chinese culture? In Canada, where multiculturalism is one of our fundamental values, does everyone have the space needed to self-determine their identity?