New Fall/Winter/Spring Season Announced!

We are super excited at the Koffler this week – we’ve officially announced & launched our new season!

Our 2011-12 Program + Classes Guide is hot off the presses…. swing by and pick up a copy, or keep your eyes on your mailbox. You can also download a digital version on our website here. This is the guide to keep and refer to all year long – it comprises the full range of our off-site exhibitions, literary, music, dance and visual arts programs and classes. As always, full details on all of our classes and programs are on our website at www.kofflerarts.org.

The 2011-12 Fall/Winter Spring season is packed full of exciting programs, events and classes all over the city and at our home base on the Sherman Campus. A big change this new season is that the Toronto Jewish Book Fair – which is entering its 36th year – has been moved from its usual October time slot to June 2012 and has been renamed the 1st Annual Toronto Jewish Book Festival. The Festival, from June 4 to June 7, 2012, will now be downtown at the Bram and Bluma Appel Salon (Toronto Reference Library) and will include the same great author talks and programs and hundreds of books for sale as other years. The Festival will culminate in the Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Awards on June 7, 2012.

Other highlights this season:

Spin Off: Contemporary Art Circling the Mandala, September 22 to December 4, 2010 – A multimedia exhibition featuring six artists that meld mysticism and popular culture, offering alternative portals to escape the world of the everyday. With Aya Ben Ron (Israel), Mircea Cantor (France/Romania), Vandana Jain (USA), Gary James Joynes/Clinker (Canada), Melissa Shiff (Canada), Jennifer Zackin (USA). Koffler Gallery Off-Site at 80 Spadina Ave., Suite 501.

The Koffler @ IFOA, October 23, 2011 – one full day of author talks focused on Russian-Jewish stories presented by the Koffler at the International Festival of Authors at Harbourfront Centre. Authors include Gary Shteyngart, David Bezmozgis, Irwin Cotler, Gal Beckerman and Michal Govrin.

Yair Dalal and Frank London, March 28, 2012 – the world premiere of international music greats Yair Dalal and Frank London together, playing a one night concert featuring Middle Eastern/Eastern European music with guest musicians at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Performing Arts.

Adi Nes, April 26 to June 2, 2012 – the first major Canadian survey of Adi Nes, the acclaimed (and often controversial) Israeli photographer who interprets Biblical, mythological and literary subjects while exploring notions of masculinity, sexual and cultural identity.

Plus, we’ve partnered with the Art Gallery of Ontario for their major fall exhibition on Chagall and the Russian avant-garde. Past Present, on December 14, is an evening of music, dance, performance, spoken word and more with Toronto’s brightest avant-garde artists; and the Koffler Chamber Orchestra opens its season on November 20 with Chagall’s Musical World in Walker Court at the AGO.

Hope to see you out at Koffler events this new season!

[Images from top: Gary James Joynes/Clinker, Ouroboros 4.06 kHz, 2011; Gary Shteyngart; Yair Dalal and Frank London; Adi Nes, Untitled (soldiers in water), 1999. Courtesy of Jack Shainman Gallery; Adi Nes, The Last Supper.]