The great thing about Cuture Days is that it aggregates an enormous range of artistic creators and performers and allows the rest of us to consider genres, forms and disciplines that we might otherwise be unaware of.

On Saturday, September 29, 11 am, at Northern District, Theatre Gargantua offers a Song Creation Workshop during which the participants will work with the company to create some remarkable soundscapes. You can hear their beautiful and unique vocal techniques on the CD Concert for St. Stephens, a 2005 concert to benefit the St. Stephens parish church in Kensington. For those who are interested in the arts and perhaps embarking on a career as a performer or artist, check out Theatre Garganua's Emerging Artists Roundtable.

At Queen/Saulter, on Friday, September 28, 10 am, you can experience and take part in Interactive Jazz Trio Storytelling with Tova Kardonne.

I had the good fortune to see Tova and her colleagues perform during Culture Days @ the Library last fall. This program will delight children and intrigue any musician interested in doing improvisation. Tova walks to the bookshelves and chooses a picture book and then begins to read as a pianist takes her cue from the story and improvises on the keyboard.

Tova also invites members of the audience to try their hand, choosing a book and then read it to inspire more music. 

At S. Walter Stewart, on Saturday, September 28, 2 pm, the junctQín keyboard collective presents storytime for all ages with piano, toy piano and squeaky objects. Listen
to "Disney Princess Disasters" accompanied by piano and squeaky objects (meet iDog!). The audience will then join in with junctQin to narrate "A Tale with
Two Stories!" Keith Kirchoff’s picturesque musical setting of classic Hans Christian Andersen stories. 

This is a chance to hear the toy piano in action. Yes, the toy piano is for children, but many composers and pianists are creating works specially for these well-made and beautiful instruments.

Click here for all Culture Days @ the Library activities.

Culture Days @ the Library is a partnership between Toronto Public Library, Culture Days and the Neighbourhood Arts Network.

For all Culture Days activities, go to the Culture Days website.