Toronto Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts | ?m | 5s | COC | Diamond Schmitt

Great pics.

I think the washroom and coat check level might be the most attractive area(s) in the building ;)

The City Room is indeed nice...but I agree that a lighted box in and of itself isn't that impressive. The effect is very good though.
 
Really does remind me of the Bader, in a 100-times-more-expensive way.
 
Wow, it looks amazing. I cant wait to attend an event there.
 
One wonders why it has taken two hundred years for Toronto to get a magnificent show-off space like the City Room?

Sometimes, I suppose, the most obvious things - in this case a remarkable glass box - are the most easily missed.

Last Thursday, when the National Ballet had their gala, the little lights under the glass staircase were lit, which they weren't for the COC gala. It added to the magic. With the grand staircase, I found it most effective to wait until nobody else was on it before pausing at the top ... and slowly descending to be enveloped by the adoring masses.
 
I like the City Room, but the main auditorium was the most impressive part. I really like the colour scheme, use of wood, curves and lights. And it's really true, not a bad seat in the house.
 
"Sometimes, I suppose, the most obvious things - in this case a remarkable glass box - are the most easily missed."


Good point. Obvious, minimalist gestures can sometimes take a kind of artistic confidence that few have. But it looks like we have a few more glass boxes on the way, if renderings of CASA and the TIFF centre are to be trusted.
 
Wow! Impresive. I love those shoes too!
It would be nice if the north and south exterior walls had a beautiful canopy to add some definition and grace to the outside of the building. Those walls are pretty deadly as they are. Nice to have sidewalk shelter on snowy and rainy days too. I'd also like to see the huge eastern exterior wall covered with mamoth posters of the arts productions. But these things can all come in the future. I think we have a solid base to build on. Considering the budget, I'd say it's a magnificent building.
 
In the late fall, and in the winter - when the sun sets before the opera or ballet take to the stage - the City Room will glow in the darkness, full of people before the show and at intermission.

In the Hall, they turn off the house lights about a minute before the performance begins, leaving only the balcony lights on. These lights - a series of five circular "dots" and an adjacent panel that casts a sideways glow fading to nothingness - punctuate the rippling balconies very prettily. They create a vaguely baroque air, and there's a wonderful feeling of anticipation. Very romantic.
 
One or two more...

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It'll be interesting to see how big a commercial "bounce" - more subscriptions, single ticket sales, and 'Ring' subscriptions sold - the COC gets out of all these open houses and the masive amount of news coverage.
 
I overheard people saying things like "maybe I should start going to the opera" while on the tour this Sunday. "Is the box office open?"

The COC should have been prepared to sell tickets already, but we subscribers don't even know where we'll be sitting yet. I bet they will find their 95% sell rate hits 100% this year. I wonder how quickly they are able to respond to demand: with what degree of difficulty can extra performances be added?

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P.S. I heard a woman complain about those wires outside the windows of the Jackman Lounge. "What are they?" "They are streetcar wires." "They spoil the view. They should be taken down."
 
It'll be interesting to see how big a commercial "bounce" - more subscriptions, single ticket sales, and 'Ring' subscriptions sold - the COC gets out of all these open houses and the masive amount of news coverage

... this coming from a man who points his nose in the air and says this:

The client - the COC - wisely instructed Jack Diamond and the acoustical designers to produce something the audience and performers actually need - a beautiful and acoustically superb hall that showcases sublime artistry. That it is set in a quietly dignified building rather than some vacuous shell designed to "lure" curious gawkers inside ( once, and once only, next weekend at the open house! ) is all the more credit to them. Bravo!
 
Is the subway entrance open? There is no subway signage on that corner and the construction looks like it is still underway on that corner.
 

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