For the first concert in its series Classiques de poche, the Alliance Française of Toronto is proud to present:

Jacques Israelievitch (violin)
and Erica Goodman (harp)

A one-of-a-kind concert! On the agenda: Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Camille Saint-Saëns, Jean-Marie Leclair, Pierre Houdy, Marcel Tournier, Gabriel Pierné, Jean Martinon, and Jacques Ibert.

Internationally renowned violinist Jacques Israelievitch is one of the most distinguished performing artists in North America and abroad. After making his debut on French National Radio at the age of eleven, Mr. Israelievitch went on to graduate from the Paris Conservatory at sixteen and was subsequently prize winner at the International Paganini Competition. His teachers notably include Henryk Szeryng and William Primrose. As a soloist, Mr. Israelievitch has collaborated with Solti, Giulini, Slatkin, and Frühbeck de Burgos, appearing with many of the world’s major orchestras. As a distinguished chamber musician, he has performed with Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, and Yo-Yo Ma, and is violinist with the New Arts Trio, which has twice received the Naumburg Award. Mr. Israelievitch served as Concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for a record-setting twenty years, and was formerly Assistant Concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for six years and Concertmaster of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra for ten years. He is currently chair of strings at the Chautauqua Institution and a full-time faculty member at York University in Toronto.

A native of Toronto, Erica Goodman is acclaimed as one of the world's outstanding solo harpists. She received her training at various institutions in Canada and in the United States. Already a concert performer in her teens, Ms. Goodman played under the baton of Igor Stravinsky when he recorded in Toronto. While at Curtis, she was a concerto soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra. She has appeared as a soloist at numerous international festivals, as well as with leading orchestras and ensembles in Canada, the United States and Europe. Ms. Goodman made her New York debut as a soloist with the National Arts Centre Orchestra during that orchestra's American debut concert at Lincoln Centre in 1972. As Canada's foremost studio harpist, Erica Goodman has played in hundreds of radio and TV productions, commercials and film scores. In 1980, she won the Grand Prix du Disque Canada for her recording "Flute and Harp" with Robert Aitken. Now Magazine selected her as Best Classical Musician in its 1996 "Best of Toronto" readers' survey.

As part of its series Jeudis Littéraires, and in partnership with the Association des auteures et auteurs de l’Ontario français, the Alliance Française is pleased to present an evening devoted to:

Pierre Léon, de A à Z
[Pierre Léon, from A to Z]

Readings and Music

with the “complicity” of Guy Mignault, Director, Théâtre français de Toronto, Ron Davis, jazz pianist, Paul Perron, Professor, University of Toronto, and Robert Godin, actor

A renowned linguist and founder of a famous phonetic research laboratory, Pierre Léon has given courses and lectures around the world. He is an honorary faculty member of the University of Toronto, a winner of the Prix de l’Académie française, a member of the Royal Society of Canada and the author of many works and articles on linguistics, phonetics, phonolinguistics, and literary semiotics. Perhaps by way of compensation, he has also published some off-the-wall stories for children and adults, such as Pigou et Cie, ou le mariage publiquement correct du petit chaperon rouge; poems and drawings, such as those in Grepotame (for which he received the Prix Loisirs-Jeunes); a picaresque novel; fables, short stories and many other works. Above all, his verbal virtuosity is impregnated with a certain joy of living that runs the gamut from frenetic to calm, serene or melancholy.
Be that as it may, here is a multifaceted artist whom several of his “accomplices” will help you to discover.

Photo album: an evening dedicated to Pierre Léon

An evening dedicated to Pierre Léon. Click here to watch the video.

To inaugurate its new series Arts de la parole, the Alliance Française invites you to discover:

Les Fous d’orage – conteurs errants
[Storm fools – wandering storytellers]

with Dan Yashinsky and Marylyn Peringer

Storm fools are storytellers without border who travel the world collecting and telling stories, venturing into mysterious territories of the human heart. For this evening, master storytellers Dan Yashinsky and Marylyn Peringer bring some of their story-treasures to the Alliance Française. Their theme: love sweet and love not-so-sweet, and the surprising journeys of desire.

For over 30 years, Toronto-based Marylyn Peringer has been telling stories in schools, libraries and community centres throughout Canada. Her wide repertoire includes world folklore of the stars and constellations, riddle tales and classical epics, but she is best known for her bilingual presentation of French-Canadian folktales and legends. She teaches adult storytelling courses through The Storytellers School of Toronto and George Brown College.

A founding member of the Toronto Festival of Storytelling, Dan Yashinsky is a storyteller and the author of Soudain, on entendit des pas …, a book about the renaissance of contemporary storytelling. He has performed and taught at festivals in Sweden, Singapore, Brazil, England, Wales, Ireland, Holland, Austria, Israel, Germany, the U.S., and throughout Canada. In l999 he received the Jane Jacobs Prize for his work with storytelling in the community. He is currently working with the Alliance Française planning a series of storytelling and spoken-word events for 2010.

Promo done by Radio-Canada

In celebration of Creole Month, the Alliance Française, in co-operation with The International Organisation of Creole People, gets in tune with the beat of the West Indies with an evening of:

Contes antillais
[Stories of the West Indies]
with Franck Sylvestre

Franck Sylvestre was born in France to Martinique parents. After beginning his artistic career as a drummer, he then went on to study drama at the Azimioara School, an experience that would lead to his joining the Guillaume Cale theatre. While with this troupe, he embarked on a number of tours in rapid succession, including the Festival d’Avignon, as well as tours in Ukraine and Romania. In 1989 he created Théâtre Bla Bla Bla with six shows for young audiences. Since 1994 he has been living in Montreal and performs in such venues as the Sergent Recruteur, the Pierre Angulaire, and the Théâtre de l’Esquisse. He has been giving performances in schools for a number of years, where he organizes story-telling workshops focusing on the Creole identity. In 2004 he created Les Productions Soucougnan. Since 2007, Franck Sylvestre has been working as an actor in La Croisée des mots, the most recent production of the Les Deux Mondes theatre.

First Theatrical Performance at the Alliance Française:

Je serai toujours là pour te tuer
[I’ll always be there to kill you]

A play by Sophie Tonneau, directed by Patricia Marceau, with Geneviève Trilling, Christian Smith, and Manuel Verreydt

The deal’s been closed. Helen hires globetrotter Simon as her personal professional killer. She wants to be taken out without suffering. It’s a simple deal: he only has to keep her company, let her live a while and then kill her some day. But she chickens out. “Give me a week. I’m not relaxed enough to die yet...” Intrigued and amused, Simon decides to play the game.

With the support of the Theâtre Français de Toronto, Zemra Bar Lounge, Alliance Française de Toronto, le Labo, ClicToronto, and LucSculpture.

This play is produced by Pure Cassis. Duration: 60 min.

After the play, guests will have a chance to chat with the comedians Manuel Verreydt, Geneviève Trilling and the director Patricia Marceau while enjoying some wine and cheese.

Promo de Radio-Canada

As part of Toronto’s Nuit Blanche, the Alliance Française and the Consulate General of France present:

Sa Majesté petite Barbe

by Marseillais artist Bertrand Mandico

This exhibition will feature a series of Polaroid shots taken from Mie, l’enfant descend du songe and from two films linked to the photos, including a new film produced especially for the exhibition entitled Sa Majesté petite Barbe

Filmmaker Bertrand Mandico has made many short- and medium-length films of fiction and animation since the early 1990s. His prolific writing spreads numerous remarkable objects throughout the world of cinematic images, such as experimental pieces, commissioned but highly person films, strange works of fiction, eerie pilots for TV series… The films have won numerous awards for their originality at European festivals. Bertrand Mandico is currently working on two feature-length projects.

As an extension of his projects involving moving pictures, Bertrand Mandico is a designer, photographer and critic. Thanks to his work in these areas, he is frequently invited to exhibitions or to give lectures in France and abroad. He extends his film work especially through series of Polaroid pictures picked up while making his films and on location; over time, these add up to a substantial sum of poetic images and “frozen films”, as he likes to call them.

The history departments of Toronto’s universities are pleased to invite you to a seminar on French history dedicated to:

Être ensemble quand on est écrivain. Les sociabilités des hommes de lettres au XIXe siècle
[Togetherness among writers. The social nature of 19th century men of letters.]

By Anthony Glinoer, University of Toronto

Gaï de Ropraz, in co-operation with the Alliance Française de Toronto, invites you to the launching of his book

La Mémoire des vagues
[The memory of the waves]

After surviving a serious water accident, the main character in this thriller journeys to three continents in quest of his own truth and identity. During his travels, the Mafia pulls out all the stops to eliminate him. Why? And who is hiding behind this patched-up face with its sad eyes and enigmatic smile that nevertheless reveals such depth and humanity?

Gaï de Ropraz has resided in Toronto since 1980. Manager of Franco-Fête, Vice President of the Salon du livre de Toronto, a member of the Board of Directors of the French-language Chamber of Commerce in Toronto, President of the Association France-Canada de Toronto (2008-2009) and President of Toronto’s Festival Beaujolais, he has also been decorated with the Ordre du Mérite agricole (Order of Agricultural Merit) by the French Department of Agriculture for his work in the winemaking world. Writing remains his greatest pleasure, however.

Come and join us on an unforgettable archaeological journey with the Société d’Histoire de Toronto, in partnership with the Royal Ontario Museum:

Les Schistes de Burgess en Colombie- Britannique, un trésor paléontologique du patrimoine mondial de l’Unesco
[The British Columbia Burgess Shales, a Unesco World Heritage palaeontological site]

by Jean-Bernard Caron, Associate Curator of Invertebrate Palaeontology, Royal Ontario Museum

Come one, come all to this seminar organized by the history departments of Toronto’s universities!

Bordeaux et la traite négrière : la place de la traite dans l'économie bordelaise au 18e siècle et ses enjeux mémoriels
[Bordeaux and the black slave trade: its place in the city’s economy in the 18th century and implications for today’s society]

by Silvia Marzagalli, Université de Nice

The Alliance française turns the clock back in its new 55 Years of TV series! Come and see one of the most famous programs in this series:

La Caméra explore le temps : il y a quarante ans
[The Camera Explores Time: Forty Years Ago]

The aim of this commemorative program is to present “a feature story in the past” developed with cinematographic materials from the period, filmed reconstitutions and personal stories (including testimony by Jean THONAT), accurately and faithfully evoking historical days from November 7 to 11, 1918, including the preliminary talks, negotiations and signing of the Armistice, and the outpouring of public joy.

Duration: 67 min.
(First broadcast on November 11, 1958)

As part of Universciné :

Lady Jane

A thriller by Robert Guédiguian

Muriel, owner of a perfume store, learns that her son, Martin, has been abducted, and that she will only get him back for a ransom of 2000,000 Euros. Distraught, she turns to her friends François and René, whom she has not seen for the last 15 years. They had formed a gang of expert thieves. François, who repairs boats, and René, a con-artist, decide to help her get the money together. But at what cost?

The surroundings of Marseille, filmed with beauty and lyricism, are the showcase of "a jewel, as somber as the Rolling Stones song." (Première)

"Guédiguian aligns his film with the best crime and political films." (Ciné Live)

Length: 102 minutes

Pot Pourri Show, a program presented on CIUT-89.5 FM

Le français, ça vous chante?
[Fancy listening to some French?]

A program featuring reports on various issues, such as: “New Issues in the East: Challenges and Players”, “International Freedom of the Press Day”, “Hot Docs Festival”, “42nd season of the Théâtre français de Toronto”…etc.

In co-operation with Radio France Internationale, Collège Boréal, the Department of French Studies at the University of Toronto, and the Alliance Française de Toronto.

E-mail: pot.pourri@sympatico.ca
Website: www.ciut.fm

The Royal Ontario Museum invites you to a lecture in French on its exhibition

« Les manuscrits de la mer Morte »
[The Dead Sea Scrolls]

by Dr. Robert David, Professor of Exegesis (Old Testament), Faculty of Theology and Religious Sciences, University of Montreal, a member of an international project, The Library of Qumran, which is preparing a critical, annotated translation in French of the Dead Sea Scrolls

The Qumran Scrolls are fascinating and intriguing. What are they made of? Who wrote them and how did the scribes work? What do the Scrolls tell us about these scribes and their social, political and religious environment? And how do the Scrolls increase our understanding of their thoughts, hopes and conflicts?

Tel.: 416-586-5797
E-mail: programs@rom.on.ca

The Théâtre Français de Toronto invites you to discover the latest creation of the Théâtre du Vaisseau d’Or:

Théâtre extrême, une vraie fausse couche à la chefferie
[Extreme theatre: a genuine “miscarriage” of leadership]

with Delphine Bienvenu, Marie-Lou Bujold, Vincent Côté, Jean-Marc Dalphond, Nicolas Gagnon, Nancy Gauthier, Maude Laurendeau, Jean-Guy Legault, Thomas Perreault, Raphaël Roussel, and Mariflore Véronneau

Directed by Jean-Guy Legault

TO THE BALLOT BOX, PEOPLE! Théâtre du Vaisseau d’Or launches us off with this rallying cry. This satire of contemporary Canadian politics is also a fascinating exercise, a veritable tour de force! Each evening is different, depending on audience reaction; there are more than 400 possible outcomes to the piece! We are present at the briefing of actor-candidates — at a cocktail party, at a press conference — and each vote counts. Yours! Your neighbour’s! Seven rounds of voting! Seven eliminations! Who will be elected leader of the Provincial Party of Ontario? Do you vote for the well-being of the party or for the well-being of the show? An invitation to see what goes on behind-the-scenes of power and decide who will win the race to lead the party. A unique experience with 11 actors giving incredible performances.

Campus France invites you to visit us at our information sessions to find out all you need to know before you head off to study in the country of your dreams – France!

Don’t hesitate to come and meet us; we will be happy to provide you information and answer your questions!

You can also contact us as:
Tel.: 416-847-1903
E-mail: toronto@campusfrance.org