Photo Credit: Flickr

Hot on the heels of the new Subway Sundays series at The Toronto Traveler is Media Mondays.  This series will take a weekly look at one news story from that week that I found relevant to tourists in the city, helpful to people that are new to Toronto or have not lived here for a long time or just plain interesting for one reason or another.  It’s my eventual hope that this continual look into current themes and goings on within the city of Toronto will help you connect with the city on a deeper level.

This week’s winner is a piece done by City News called How To Drive Safely Following A Flood.

What did I find interesting about the piece?  Well, essentially this is a type of reporting that you don’t see very often in the media.  Other news outlets such as CBC and The Toronto Star did cover the weather problems that have been going on in the city in recent times, but they also neglected to mention on a large scale what people visiting the city could do to help themselves.  City News has a way of covering the news that lends itself to this type of helpful article and that is one of the things that I like about that news organization.

All of the tips are good, but their main tip of “Don’t drive unless absolutely necessary” is definitely something to take notice of.  Stay away from flooded areas unless you absolutely have to go (and if you read this blog because you’re visiting the city, chances are you can cancel an event and just chill out at the hotel for awhile) and also take note of the last two tips which state what one and two feet of water can respectively do to most automobiles.  SUVs aren’t immune to this type of thing either, so be very wary if you need to go somewhere that is in a flooded area.

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Mozart

Mozart has a number of distinctions as a composer, not least of which is his ability to be consistently prolific throughout his whole life.  He actually put out over 600 different compositional works throughout his lifetime and many of them are still considered classics today, showing how influential he was in his classical compositional skin.

At one point in the year 1783, Mozart and his wife had stopped over in the town of Linz in the country of Austria on their way back home to Vienna.  When the local court heard that the great Mozart had stopped over in their town, representatives were sent to fetch Mozart and request that he write a symphony for a concert that they would be holding in honour of his arrival.  Mozart quite graciously agreed to compose the symphony and a mere four days later the Linz Symphony was born.  Known formally as Mozart’s 36th Symphony, this piece of work will be played as the Mozart part of the concert.

Haydn

Haydn is another very influential composer in the same tradition as Mozart, although it can be argued by some that Haydn is more influential amongst actual musicians and composers whereas Mozart is better known amongst lay people.  Two of Haydn’s nicknames are “Father of the Symphony” and “Father of the String Quartet” and just like his fellow composer Mozart, Haydn spent all of his life residing in the country of Austria.  He also came from a very musically inclined family, with one brother that was a well known composer and another that was a well known tenor singer.

The work that will be performed at the concert from Haydn is the Symphony 82 work, also sometimes referred to as the “Bear Symphony”.  The Bear Symphony is the first of Haydn’s Paris Symphonies, a series of six symphonies that were commissioned as works by the Concerts de la Loge Olympique in the city of Paris.

Bach

Bach was a baroque composer from Germany that did most of his work a few decades before either Mozart or Haydn had started on their compositional endeavours.  Bach is commonly thought of as being the composer that provided structure to the overall baroque period in composition and eventually brought that period to its ultimate conclusion.

Bach’s piece is the twist to this concert as the selection from his works that will be played is his Cello Suite #1 in G Major which actually represents a Canadian premiere of that particular work.

Event: Mozart and Haydn + Bach Downtown

Date: February 17, 2008

Time: 3:30 PM

Cost: $29-$68 for adults depending on seating location, $23-$61 for children

Location: Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre (MAP)

Closest Subway Station: Spadina Station

More Information: Phone (416-964-6337), E-Mail (info@tafelmusik.org) and Internet (http://www.tafelmusik.org)

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

The result of that promise is Family Day, a provincial holiday that will be occuring next Monday, February 18th. 

Because the point of Family Day is supposedly for people to spend time with their families, I thought I’d put together a short list of things that you can do on Family Day should you wish to leave the house or hotel and go out on the town.  Now, this is by no means an exhaustive list, but it is one that should get you started if you are thinking about something to do.

Gadgets & Gizmos – A Family Day activity at the Ontario Science Centre

The Family Day Long Weekend – An exploration of family fun in a way that only the Royal Ontario Museum can do it

Family Day at the CN Tower - A celebration of family at Canada’s tallest building

50% Off – A discount off the regular price at the Metro Toronto Zoo

Free Admission for Children - Children get in free on Monday at Casa Loma when accompanied by a paying adult

McGuinty Photo Credit: Joshua Sherurcij

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Gertraud Mohwald is regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 1950s, as most of her work came through in the conditions of the post-war European continent.  In the wake of World War II and before the reconstruction efforts led largely by the United States, Europe was practically obliterated.  The combination of amazingly artistic buildings and destruction all around was a rather interesting juxtaposition of the incongrous and Mohwald took advantage of this, turning destruction into opportunity and creating some of the most interesting ceramic works of her time.

Now, her collection has come to the Gardiner Museum.

Event: Gertraud Mohwald Exhibit

Date: Up to January 20, 2008

Cost: $10 to $19

Location: Gardiner Museum (map)

Nearest Subway Station: Museum (big surprise, eh?)

More Information: 416-586-8080

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is going to be kicking off their Mozart Festival at Roy Thomson Hall through the performance of Symphony Number 40 by Mozart, with one of Canada’s best soprano opera singers featured in the event.  The price for seats in Roy Thomson Hall start at $20 for this event and considering that most of the seats in the hall itself are excellent for musical concerts, this is definitely something you should take a closer look at if you are going to be in the Toronto area and free the day of the concert.

Event: Mozart Festival, Symphony Number 40 by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra

Date: January 17-19

Cost: Tickets start at $20

Location: Roy Thomson Hall (map)

Closest Subway Station: St. Andrew

For More Information: 416-872-4255

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Aaron Davis is a composer and a keyboardist that has lots of years of experience in both of those fields as they relate to jazz blues and a person that can currently be seen regularly playing and arranging music for the singer Holly Cole.  Suzie Vinnick is a blues singer that has won a number of awards for her great talents and is also someone that has been credited with writing some of her own songs as well as playing some musical accompaniment on different instrumental recordings.

Together, the two of them are going to sound terrific and it is in this spirit that we take a look at the dynamic duo playing blues music in front of a crowd at the Textile Museum of Canada.  This is going to be a simply fantastic event for all to see and the fact that even non-members can get into the event for less than $20 tells you just how much value you can get for your money by attending this event.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Event: Blues by Aaron Davis and Suzie Vinnich

Date: January 9th, 2008 @ 6:30 PM

Location: Textile Museum of Canada (map)

Closest Subway Station: St. Patrick

More Information: 416-599-5321

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

On that semi-bright note, here is this morning’s round-up of stories of interest to the travelers of Toronto

1) The Ontario thaw causes fog that in turn causes flight cancellations

2) The same thaw breaks a city temperature record

3) In the wake of the thaw, a few pedestrian deaths have sparked a safety warning

4) The Toronto Megacity is 10 years old! Does anybody care?

5) Parking ticket scams and how to tell the real thing

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

As many people already know, we Canadians love our hockey and Toronto has the honour of being the city that is home to the hockey hall of fame.  Every trip to this building of hallowed hockey talent is a fantastic one and the outside architecture of it isn’t that bad either.

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

1) Alycia Heitt and Brother win $36 million lottery prize

2) Unexpectedly warm weather causes some ponds to dangerously melt

3) Canada’s as good as gold at the World Junior Hockey Championships

4) Good news for tourists: GO Transit strike averted at the last minute

5) It’s like skiing in your own backyard?

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

1) GO Transit is meeting with union representatives in a last ditch effort to avoid a strike.

2) Wheel flies off truck on the 401 and hits a car, but thankfully nobody was hurt too seriously.

3) Security scare at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport results in the arrest of one man.

4) Team Canada beats Team USA at the World Junior Championship Hockey Semi-Finals (not really a Toronto relevant story, but hey I’m a hockey fan!)

Post from: The Toronto Traveler