Our favourite picks for Autumn 2015

Must fiddle, listen to opera, tour on a bike or bus and look at maps.

September 11, 2015 | | Autumn 2015 | Back Issues | Community | Departments | In Every Issue | Must Do

mustdo_teenagerviolinMust linger

Shelburne’s Trinity United Church is transformed into a music and art hub on October 17 for the second annual Spirit Touches Art, Touches Spirit (STartS).

The music is upstairs and will include performances by Shelburne Fiddlers and Friends, singer Gary Heaslip and singer/fiddler/step dancer Darcey Baker. Music will be playing all day, with some musicians using the church’s pipe organ and grand piano.

Downstairs is the gallery space, with art, crafts and storytelling aplenty. Watch for abstract painter Ken Topping, painter and alpaca crafter Kai-Liis McInnes and potter Jackie Warmelink, to name a few.

Organizer Ann McAlpine says the event is a welcome use of a beloved church with some of the “best acoustics in Dufferin County.” No wonder last year many visitors stayed for hours, wandering up and down the stairs all day.

The free event runs from 10 am to 3 pm, with light refreshments. Contact 519-925-2233 or [email protected]

Must attend

New York’s famed Metropolitan Opera broadcasts a selection of its live Lincoln Center productions to cinemas across Canada – including Orangeville’s Galaxy Cinemas – for local opera lovers.

For an insider’s look at the upcoming season, join opera expert Iain Scott for An Introduction to the 2015–16 MET Opera Live Cinema Broadcasts. Scott will be discussing such operas as Verdi’s Il Trovatore, Wagner’s Tannhäuser, and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and Turandot.

He’ll offer insights into topics such as the ascendance of soprano Anna Netrebko into the role of Lenora in Il Trovatore and the fact that this season will mark the MET’s first Othello sans blackface. Scott (find him at opera-is.com) says he also sees his job as nudging opera traditionalists into shaking up their repertoire. The contemporary German opera Lulu by Alban Berg, perhaps?

“My job is to encourage people to extend themselves just beyond their comfort zone,” he says.

There are two lectures: The first, for those new to opera, is on September 27 at Westminster United Church in Orangeville from 2 to 4 pm. ($15); and the second, for seasoned opera lovers, is on September 28 at Rosemont Hall on Highway 89 from 10 am to noon ($25).

Call Dufferin Arts Council at 519-941-7982 or visit dufferinartscouncil.com.

A scene from a Metropolitan Opera production of the Puccini opera Turandot at New York City’s Lincoln Center.

A scene from a Metropolitan Opera production of the Puccini opera Turandot at New York City’s Lincoln Center.

Must map

mustdo_AnimatedMapAlbionTownshipFeatured

Click to see larger image of map.

This folklore map of Albion township is filled with oddball characters and mini-narratives from the 1930s, making it look like something out of the Lord of the Rings saga. Find this and other historical gems at Mapping Peel: An Exploration of Maps from the Peel Archives. The exhibit marks the International Year of the Map at PAMA (Peel Art Gallery, Museum and Archives) in downtown Brampton and runs until November 27.

Among many activities organized around the exhibit, budding young cartophiles can visit the gallery on the PD day of September 29 to create their own interactive map.

The show is included with regular admission (free on September 26 and 27). pama.peelregion.ca

Peel historian William Perkins Bull commissioned Helen Gertrude Kemp to create “animated” maps of Peel’s five townships. Along with this one of Albion, only the Caledon and Chinguacousy maps survive.

Must tour

Want to join a roving band of environmental do-gooders for a morning? Credit Valley Conservation’s Stewardship Forum is hosting a bus tour that promises to bring you closer to nature – and to other nature lovers.

Our Nature to Conserve: Exploring the Headwaters is on October 3. The Credit River tour runs from 8:45 am to 2:30 pm and will showcase restoration projects, low-impact development practices, and community initiatives worth celebrating. Along the way, you’ll hear how you can help as a homeowner and/or a citizen. Oh, and the fall colours won’t hurt, either.

The tour starts at the Tony Rose Sports Centre in Orangeville. Tickets are $10, and include lunch. Register by September 25. See creditvalleyca.ca and search stewardship forum.

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Courtesy Town of Mono

Courtesy Town of Mono

Must roll

See some countryside with fresh eyes during the fourth annual Mono on a Bike tour on September 19. The routes blend gravel roads and scenic trails in Mono Cliffs Provincial Park and Dufferin County Forest. The ride begins at 9 am at the community hall in Mono Centre. There are four routes on offer: a 7.5-km trip with no hills for kids ages 5 to 10 (parents ride free); a 15 km (twice around the 7.5 km route) version for casual riders; a 15-km advanced ride for avid cyclists who like some hills; and a 30-km with more technical difficulty and longer hills.

Tickets are $30 for adults, $15 for kids. Riders get lunch and the first 100 receive a free T-shirt. Helmets are mandatory.

Register at zone4.ca

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