Quand la poésie résonne

A cabaret-chanson featuring Cindy Doire, Bernard Dionne, Paul Reddick, Sophie Perceval & Marc LeMyre

Presented with the Association des auteures et auteurs de l’Ontario français

The words of French Canada’s greatest poets will come alive at Alliance Française for our second cabaret-chanson of the season.

With Quand la poésie résonne, poetry, song and musical improvisation converge in moving and unexpected ways. The works of Patrice Desbiens, Gérald LeBlanc, Gaston Miron, Gilbert Langevin, Suzanne Jacob, Michel Dallaire, Andrée Lacelle, Louise Fiset and Paul Savoie will wrap themselves in sound and music, allowing the audience to grasp their urgency, humor and sensuality.

Some of the poems were set to music by Timmins-born singer-songwriter Cindy Doire; others were read by Sophie Perceval and recorded by poet, playwright and sound magician Marc LeMyre.

Quand la poésie résonne gives notice that AFT, beyond its role as a key venue on the Toronto cultural scene, is now becoming a important space for artistic creation.

To celebrate the arrival of the Christmas season, Alliance Française presents a

Christmas Concert

Caroline Léonardelli (harp)
Julie Nesrallah (voice)

Melodies by Fauré, Debussy and Reynaldo Hahn, along with Christmas music, including the Noëls de Lourmarin

Caroline is principal harpist with the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra. Born in France, Caroline graduated with first prize in harp from the Paris Conservatory under the guidance of Jacqueline Borot at the age of 18. Caroline went on to study with Judy Loman through the McGill University School of Music. Caroline studied in France with Lily Laskine, one of the most celebrated harpists of the 20th century.

Julie Nesrallah is an extremely versatile singer and actress, at ease in all styles who has achieved musical excellence across the continent and abroad. Miss Nesrallah has been the recipient of many distinguished awards & prizes, including the Canada Council for the Arts Emerging Artist Award & Mid-Career Grant.

As part of the new Arts de la parole cycle, Alliance Française is pleased to present an evening of slam poetry :

Slam Play!

With Mathieu Lippé
Gold medalist in storytelling at the 2009 Francophonie Games in Beyrut

With his feet rooted in story telling, his mind deep in poetry and his heart full of songs, Mathieu Lippé inhabits a thoroughly original universe. After studying music and getting a BA in literature from the University of Sherbrooke, he took his initial steps on stage in 2000. Two years later, Mathieu joined the group Vizzaj, proposing L’important c’est ça qui conte!, an innovative melding of jazz and storytelling.

In 2007, Mathieu Lippé settled in Montreal and joined the burgeoning slam poetry scene. Performing at every opportunity, he reached the national finals of the September 2008 Grand Slam – and won. Guest poet at the 100 jours de bonheurs event, his work was published in the Le bonheur des poètes compilation. In September 2009, Mathieu Lippé won a gold medal at the 2009 Francophonie Games.

As part of its Jeudis Littéraires cycle, Alliance Française invites you to discover – or rediscover – Toronto as seen through the eyes of some of our most important French speaking writers.

Le Toronto des écrivains

With Paul-François Sylvestre, Pierre Karch, Didier Leclair, Mireille Messier, and Aurélie Resch

Just like Paris, London or New York, Toronto holds a special place in the imagination of authors, especially those who have come into the city’s vortex. After compiling the masterful Toronto s’écrit, Paul-François Sylvestre has chosen to question four colleagues who have given Toronto a special place in their works, whether it be as an romantic and mysterious city – or as a place people love to hate! Prior to each exchange, an excerpt from the guest’s novel or short story will be read by artist Nathalie Nadon.

Born in Windsor, Paul-François Sylvestre has published seven novels, two short story collections, two books of poetry, one children’s story and close to fifteen texts on French Ontario. His novel, 69, rue de la Luxure takes place in the heart of Toronto’s gay village. Mr. Sylvestre was awarded the Prix du Nouvel-Ontario as well as the Prix Jean-Baptiste-Rousseau. He has been a member of the Order of Ontario since January 2008. Literary critic for Southern Ontario’s five French-language weeklies, he also writes a historical column for L’Express de Toronto.

Alliance Française is pleased to present a very special photo exhibit, featuring a guitar that has many stories to tell...

Voyageur : the Six String Nation Guitar
A mirror of Canada
Photo exhibit

Canada. Its diversity of geographies, histories, mythologies, languages, literature, art, food, sport and industry all find a place in the body of the Six String Nation guitar, in the music coaxed from its strings by those who play it and in the imagination of all who encounter it.

The guitar is made from 63 items of real Canada history and heritage in wood, bone, metal and stone representing different cultures, communities and characters from every province and territory of Canada. A handful of additional pieces adorn the guitar strap and the interior of the case.

Eleven years after its conception, the guitar made its official debut on Canada day, July 1st, 2006, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, in the hands of Stephen Fearing, Joel Fafard, etc…. Since then, it has traveled thousands of kilometers across Canada, been played by hundreds of different musicians, and been held by thousands of Canadians – pros, amateurs and posers alike – at festivals, concerts, schools and community events around the country.

The Société d’Histoire de Toronto invites you to follow the wanderings of a language and a people with a conference entitled:

Gaelic: a language without a state, a people without a country

by Robert McDonald

Did you know that in the middle of the 19th century, Gaelic was the third or fourth most commonly spoken language in British North America? That it was probably better known than French among the Fathers of Confederation? Now this language with its illustrious past is practically extinct in Canada, and is in a very bad state even on its home turf in Scotland and Ireland. The oldest written language in Northern Europe, literary vehicle of those who, some would say, saved European civilization during the ‘Dark Ages’ – and mother tongue of those who, much later, victims of what has been called a campaign of ethnic cleansing, took refuge in Canada and contributed greatly to its development – is this language destined for oblivion? Robert McDonald will give you an overview of the unique features of the Gaelic language and a brief history of the Gaels in both the old and the new worlds. Then he will address the issue of minority languages -- of ‘dialects without an army’ – in the era of globalization.

Bob McDonald grew up in Eastern Ontario. A proud son of the land, he is the descendant of Scottish pioneers, Gaelic in language and Baptist by religion, who cleared the land and built a community southeast of Ottawa from the 1830’s on. He is a geographer and a regional planner by training, but is equally fascinated by history and linguistics. He has studied linguistic succession in the settlement of Eastern Ontario, and collaborated on a sociolinguistic study of French-speaking Albertans. He now works for the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs in the Education and Training section.

As part of its Universciné cycle, AFT presents:

Le Candidat

A dramatic comedy by Niels Arestrup

With Yvan Attal, Stefania Rocca, and Niels Arestrup

Shortly before the presidential election, Michel Dedieu replaces on short notice his party’s candidate, who was felled by cancer. Follwing the first round of the election, Michel and his inner circle have little time to prepare for the televised debate with his opponent. Not very popular with the media and the public, he absolutely must improve his image and fine-tune his rhetoric.

He therefore organizes a working weekend at his house. Initially docile and vulnerable, the candidate gives in to all of his staff’s demands, until he reaches the brink of exhaustion, and discovers that he is trapped in a dangerous game of manipulation, from which he can only emerge by calling his own shots...

Originally released in 2007 – duration: 1h35

Opéra Atelier invites you to discover its latest production :

Iphigénie en Tauride

Director: Marshall Pynkosk,
Conductor: Andrew Parrot

Gluck's masterpiece Iphigénie en Tauride premiered in Paris in 1779 and marked the crowning point in his career. This seamless reworking of the Euripides play tells the ancient story of Iphigénie, the Greek princess who is abandoned on the island of Tauride for the duration of the Trojan War. Miraculously united with her brother Oreste following the murder of their mother (Clytemnestra), Iphigénie's courage and self-sacrifice ensure their safe return to Greece.

Contact Patricia Guérin at 416 922 2014 (#35) or patricia-guerin@alliance-francaise.ca for the rebate access code

Concert de Tomas Jensen et Joanna Moon

Joanna Moon la vagabonde. Son âme de gitane a erré à travers plusieurs vies, villes et amours, à travers l’isolement, les joies et les tragédies. Avec un touché très personnel, elle fusionne le flamenco, les sons latinos et arabes.

Accompagné d’une nouvelle formation, Tomas Jensen poursuit sa route avec son nouveau spectacle composé majoritairement des morceaux de son dernier album, Quelqu’un d’autre, aux couleurs latines, rock et électro.

To celebrate 50 years of world-wide success, for two nights, Michel Legrand will sing and play his greatest hits in Toronto, alongside Québec singer Mario Pelchat.

To celebrate 50 years of world-wide success, for two nights, Michel Legrand will sing and play his greatest hits in Toronto, alongside Québec singer Mario Pelchat.

Contact Patricia Guérin at 416 922 2014 (#35) or patricia-guerin@alliance-francaise.ca for the rebate access code.

The National Film Board presents two films as part of its Ciné-jeudi program:

Éloge du chiac (In praise of chiac) – Part 2

In the cafés, streets and classrooms of Moncton, Shediac and Bouctouche, Acadians of all ages show their affection for the chiac language, which mixes French and English, but also worry about its future. Forty years after Michel Brault’s original docementary, Éloge du chiac, the debate surrounding the language spoken by Acadians in South-Eastern New Brunswick still rages.

Vive la rose

Vive la rose uses a unique triptych visual design to dramatize a song about loss. When illness takes the woman he loves, a simple man sings to her in a last farewell.

Campus France invites you to find out the way to study in France in the best possible circumstances!

Come see us, we’ll be happy to provide you with key information and answer all of your questions!

You can also reach us at 416 847 1903 or at toronto@campusfrance.org

Pot Pourri Show, presented by CIUT-89.5 FM

Le français, ça vous chante?

Le français, ça vous chante will present a wide range of reports, including: New Issues of the Middle-East – what’s at stake, who’s involved, The International Day of Freedom of the Press, Hot Docs documentary film festival, the Théâtre français de Toronto’s 42nd season.

In conjunction with Radio France Internationale, Collège Boréal, the French Studies department of the University of Toronto and Alliance Française de Toronto.

Email: pot.pourri@sympatico.ca,
Website: www.ciut.fm