{"id":114539,"date":"2025-05-23T14:24:59","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T18:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=114539"},"modified":"2025-05-23T14:24:59","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T18:24:59","slug":"interview-ceo-celia-smith-takes-us-lineup-luminato-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/05\/23\/interview-ceo-celia-smith-takes-us-lineup-luminato-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW | CEO Celia Smith Takes Us Through Some Of The Lineup For Luminato 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Luminato
Luminato Music Weekend, June 18, 2023 (Photo: Cassandra Popescu)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The theme for Luminato 2025 is DAY:NIGHT, with a running concept of exploring how the city is inhabited on a 24-hour cycle. The Festival runs from June 4 to 22, 2025, with events taking place in a wide variety of locations throughout Toronto.<\/p>\n

Along with the all day-all night theme, Luminato 20250 will highlight environmental sustainability and mental wellbeing, all in a community spirit of engaging with the city at large via art.<\/p>\n

We spoke with Luminato CEO Celia Smith about this year\u2019s program and new directions.<\/p>\n

\"Luminato
Luminato CEO Celia Smith (standing) and Artistic Director Olivia Ansell (seated) (Photo courtesy of Luminato)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Celia Smith: The Interview<\/h2>\n

The program this year includes some staggering numbers: more than 1,000 artists from Canada and beyond, including 12 world premieres, 8 commissions and 14 exclusives from 10 countries, and a glance at the lineup includes more options than you can list in a single preview.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t count that high,\u201d Smith laughs. \u201cProudly Canadian and totally global.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about engaging with public art all over the city, all day and all night. \u201cIn a nutshell,\u201d she adds. Part of the new energy comes from a new artistic director Olivia Ansell, former Festival Director of Sydney Festival and Head of Contemporary Performance for Sydney Opera House. Celia notes that Olivia has moved to Toronto from Australia with her family. They first met in Sydney. \u201cI met Olivia and went, wow.\u201d Olivia had been with the Sydney Festival for four years. \u201cIt\u2019s a very, very large tourism magnet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ansell has been attending Luminato as well. \u201cShe\u2019s been to the last two festivals,\u201d Smith says. They\u2019ve been working together for about a year and a half long distance. The focus of their conversations: \u201cHow can we turn up the heat in Toronto?\u201d<\/p>\n

Upping the volume of activities has been one of the results. \u201cWe have at least twice as many experiences as in past years,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

That includes multitudes of free events, exhibitions and experiences from downtown Toronto to parks in Brampton and Scarborough. They\u2019ve kept the ticketed theatrical works accessibly priced. \u201cIt\u2019s a smorgasbord of different experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szab\u00f3 in Queen of the Night Communion (Photo courtesy of Tapestry Opera)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Music At Luminato 2025<\/h3>\n

Music plays a large role in Luminato\u2019s programming this year, from its opening to a number of events throughout June.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s showing up Olivia\u2019s background as a musician and growing up in a musical household,\u201d Smith notes.<\/p>\n

Queen of the Night Communion<\/strong> is co-produced with Tapestry Opera<\/a>, an overnight immersive and operatic experience that takes place in the atmospheric environment of the Metropolitan United Church.<\/p>\n

The Queen of the Night presides over a secret nocturnal society, and the audience is part of it. The idea is to hear classical music untethered from the usual traditions, including some of the most intriguing characters from the opera canon. Performers will move throughout the space in an event that\u2019s billed as \u201cpart ritual, part concert, part revolution\u201d. The event is directed by Tapestry\u2019s Michael Hidetoshi Mori.<\/p>\n

Mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szab\u00f3 stars as the titular Queen, with performers Ryan Downey, Michael Eusebio, Alex Hetherington, Alexander Hajek, McKenzie Warriner, and Justin Welsh.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite different than your standard opera fare,\u201d Celia says.<\/p>\n

Grammy Award-winning artist Larnell Lewis, who worked with the artist on multiple occasions, has developed A Glimpse of Quincy: Celebrating the Legendary Quincy Jones<\/strong>, a tribute.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s put together a roster of artists who\u2019ve worked with Quincy.\u201d It turns out that Jones worked in Toronto frequently over the years.<\/p>\n

Luminato includes a lot of music, but it\u2019s also about highlighting the experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is cross-disciplinary,\u201d Smith says.<\/p>\n

That includes Theo x Travis: Jazz is Dead<\/strong>, a fusion of jazz, hip-hop, and R&B, that features GRAMMY-nominated trumpeter, composer, producer and vocalist Theo Croker with dancer Travis Knights<\/a>, co-presented by dance Immersion.<\/p>\n

Polish stage director Krystian Lada\u2019s Dawn Chorus<\/strong> takes Union Station and transforms it into a dynamic concert space.<\/p>\n

\u201cSix Toronto based choirs will have their moment in different parts of Union Station,\u201d she explains. Gradually, they will come together for a larger piece at the end of the performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s interesting to bring a creator from outside to work with people here,\u201d she says. The venue was made for big acoustics. \u201cIt\u2019s an extraordinary place to sing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other musical and sound experiences include:<\/p>\n