On August 26, 2025, for one night, the skies above Fort York will be transformed into a dazzling show that combines drones, multimedia, and a live orchestra. Recent drone shows in Brazil and Las Vegas have sparked a sensation; now it’s Toronto’s turn to become a showcase for the innovative tech.
Conductor Carlos Bastidas and The Ontario Pops Orchestra will provide the musical score for both the drones and vocalist Arlene Paculan to flesh out the story of Lyra, a cosmic being, and her search for meaning and redemption.
Illumin Drone Shows provides the aerial drone choreography, with an immersive art installation designed by Lianne Baron of Portal Nine that combines projection-mapped visuals and ambient lighting that will surround the audience in 360-degrees.
The Production
Fort York will be reimagined as an open-air stage for 1,500 guests.
Lyra’s story is an emotional arc that takes her from celestial beginnings to a dark downfall, and then a rebirth. Light and sound become part of her story of transformation. The score blends cinematic music, pop ballads, and orchestral music, including works by Hans Zimmer, Metallica, Swedish House Mafia, Billie Eilish, and Disney classics.
Maestro Carlos Bastidas is an award-winning conductor, composer, and music director of the Ontario Pops Orchestra. He has led orchestras on international stages through Canada and Europe. With OPO, he has become recognized for his accessible approach to programming, and commitment to community engagement. He’ll be leading a 15-piece string orchestra drawn from OPO members.
Singer-songwriter Arlene Paculan has performed across North America and in Europe in a 15+ year career. She is based in Mississauga, where her band Arlene & the People won the Best Live Artist/Band Award at the 2024 Mississauga Music Awards.
The lightscape expands across the full size of Fort York grounds. Hundreds of drones move in synchronization with the live orchestra, and elements that include projection mapping, artistic stage design, and audio-reactive lighting.
Highlights of the performance include:
- At Lyra’s climactic awakening in the story, the Ontario Pops Orchestra performs “Clarity” by Zedd (feat. Foxes);
- Vocalist Arlene Paculan joins the Orchestra for “Gravity” by Sara Bareilles;
- The drone choreography forms geometric symbols and constellations, and pulses in sync with the music.
The Interview
We spoke to co-creators Lianne Baron of Portal Nine and Christian Ilumin of Ilumin Drone Shows about the ambitious project.
Christian Ilumin is the founder of Illumin Drone Shows, a company that combines cutting edge tech with an artistic sensibility. Corporate clients have included TD Bank, Range Rover, and the VELD
Music Festival, and the company is the official drone partner of the City of Toronto. The company’s goal is to create unique experiences that combine technical innovation, art, music, and storytelling.
Lianne Baron founded Portal Nine, her creative studio, after working at Meta, where she managed global creator AR / AI partnerships and produced the augmented reality layer for Coachella, Art Basel, and other cultural events. At Portal Nine, she works with both traditional and emerging technologies to create transformative experiences for audiences.
“It’s a passion project, for sure,” says Lianne Baron. She says The Origin of Light will a pilot for this kind of performance in Canada. “It literally will be the first of its kind in Canada.”
She notes that Canadian regulations around the safety issues involved with the show are more stringent than those in the US, which probably accounts for the slower launch of multimedia drone shows here.
She came together with Christian out of the shared interest. “I think both Lianne and I have very similar ideas,” Christian says. They connected professionally, and realized they shared the same kind of vision for a show.
The logistics were formidable. “It comes with a lot of planning,” he says. “It’s not been done to an orchestra here,” Christian adds. “There’s a lot of technical challenges.”
Lianne calls their professional relationship “a lovely convergence”. “He’s very much a leader,” she says of Christian. “I’m kind of managing the grounds. That’s been my zone of genius.”
Her design elements include mixed and augmented reality that blend into the aerial show. Putting all the pieces of the puzzle together is where the artistry lies.
The music is an integral part of storytelling. “Our partner there is Carlos Bastidas and the Ontario Pops Orchestra,” Christian says. “He’s a wonderfully experienced maestro.”
It took a few months to assemble all the working parts. Both Baron and Ilumin have international experience putting together large scale shows and projects, but Toronto presents a unique environment.
“It’s, obviously for me, being able to fly in Toronto was key in understanding limitations in locations,” Christian says.
The downtown area is clearly limited in that respect. Getting approvals from the city offered another set of challenges. “I stuck to areas that we know,” he says. The waterfront was clearly a preference, and Ilumin’s project with TD Bank, who had requested a downtown location, became a learning experience when it came to exploring feasible options. He says the city staff were keen to see the tech in use in Toronto.
The TD event was a success, and laid the groundwork for The Origin of Light at Fort York, with its fenced area, one that is close to the downtown core without being in the middle of it.
“It worked in so many different ways,” Christian says.
Storytelling With Light
Lyra’s story is a kind of fable. “I would say so,” Lianne says. “It’s really a lovely collaboration between the two of us.”
Developing the story and premise was a project that evolved over time. “It has been a couple of years,” Christian says. “I wanted to be able to tell a story.”
When he started his company, naturally, there was an emphasis on brand activation and corporate work.
Alongside the corporate work, the story gradually began to take shape. “It was something I started building out early. It evolved over the last couple of years,” he explains.
“I knew it had to be about a star, a celestial being,” he says. “I named her Lyra.”
The show describes her journey from birth, development and maturing, and the ups and downs of existence using the medium of light. “The end of it is having her realize her purpose and her dreams.”
Integrating it with music was the next step. Bit by bit, the pieces came together. “I put it into my pocket for a while,” he says. He pitched the idea to Lianne a couple of months ago.
“What was striking about the story is that it felt familiar,” Lianne says. The emotional basis of the story is universal. “As we’re born into this world, we have a vibration.” As we get older, the world offers challenges to that vibration. She notes the images include a rising phoenix — a symbol of rebirth and resurgence.
“This is such a beautiful way to articulate this story,” she says. “We can really put some real authentic emotion in this show.”
The multi-sensorial approach draws the audience into the story with what she describes as a healing vibe.
“It was easy to develop the score,” she says. “It’s quite magical how the narrative has come together.”
How many drones will be used? “There are going to be hundreds,” Ilumin says. “It’s about the flow of the story. Every drone has its own personality and we want to make sure they are all marching to the same tune when we need them to.”
It’s a challenge he says he’s excited for. “We’e done similar activations, but not to this scale.”
“They are kind of the visual orchestra,” Lianne says of the drones.
Toronto: The Next Immersive Drone Show Capital?
The large, complex project has been designed to put Toronto on the map for similar projects.
“It’s really positioning Toronto to be a global player,” Lianne says.
The tighter regulatory environment in Canada results in a different level of production. “This allows us to start playing in that field, but coming in a little bit higher,” she says. “We don’t always get credit in Canada for being forefront leaders.”
As she points out, Fort York, with a history that has both darker and lighter moments, adds an additional significance to the production.
“We love this kind of presence of having this historical space,” she says.
The hope is to take their show on the road and look for similar spaces across Canada to present The Origin of Light.
As the pair emphasize, this is a made-in-Toronto show that puts Canadian innovation and technology under the spotlight as well.
- Find details and tickets for the August 26 show [HERE].
- NEW: note that the original date of August 19 was rescheduled due to predicted rainfall. Please check the link for details.
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