Messiah Performance

On Sunday, December 21, 2025 we attended the 3 p.m. performance of Messiah by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at the Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto, Ontario.

Gustavo Gimeno, Music Director

Messiah

Michael Francis, conductor

Lauren Snouffer, soprano

Susan Platts, mezzo-soprano

Anthony León, tenor

Gerald Finley, bass-baritone

Toronto Mendelssohn Choir Jean-Sébastien Vallée, Artistic Director

George Frideric Handel Messiah

The December 21st  performance was generously supported by Edward and Myna Levy in memory of Sidney Levy.

Personal Commentary: Every Christmas time my family and I have attended this traditional concert. It brings that special joy in celebration of this special time of year. 

  

Deepfaking Sam Altman

Topic: Rotman Documentary Insights presents: "Deepfaking Sam Altman"
Date: December 10, 2025
Time: 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Location: Innis Town Hall Theatre, 2 Sussex Ave., Toronto, Ontario

The following is a synoposis taken from the Rotman advertisement of this event:

Follow director Adam Bhala Lough as he sets out to better understand the technology and people at the center of the AI boom. His quest sends him on a path towards the father of AI, OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman. When he isn’t able to sit down with Altman himself, Adam travels to India to create an AI version of him to interview instead.

Sam Bot is a new kind of documentary subject and collaborator, who challenges Adam in surprising and hilarious ways. Together, Adam and Sam Bot explore what it means to be alive, create art, and understand each other in an increasingly artificial world.

Personal Commentary: As I watched this documentary film I determined that the possibilities of AI are immense with mostly good outcomes as discussed in the Q&A follow-up session. 

Christmas 2025 Concert

On Saturday, December 6, 2025 I attended a Christmas Jazz Concert. It was simply wonderful!! Below are the details taken from the program pamphlet: 

Adonis Rose & New Orleans Jazz Orchestra present

A Crescent City Christmas

This is the 1,470th concert in Koerner Hall

  Members of the Band:

Adonis Rose, drums

Phillip Manuel, vocals 

MilesBerry, tenor saxophone 

Rex Gregory, alto saxophone

David Navarro, trumpet 

David Harris, trombone 

Kevin Butler, tuba

Seth Finch, piano

Max Moran, bass

Alexey Marti, percussion

The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO) was formed in 2002 and was designed to celebrate and fortify the American jazz portfolio while providing infrastructure for developing the New Orleans jazz industry. Led by Artistic Director Adonis Rose, this band has an ever-increasing repertoire that exemplifies the influence of jazz as the grandfather of all modern American music. As such, the band and its members are true ambassadors of American music. The members of the orchestra span several generations and have over 100 years of combined professional experience. They have performed and recorded with a veritable who's who of artists across all genres.

NOJO has headlined all of America's major performing arts venues and clubs, and produced the first local, ticketed jazz concert series in New Orleans' history. NOJOs' album Book One, released on World Vilage (Harmonia Mundi), won the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble. The album that folowed, Dee Dee's Feathers,was released in 2015 and features Grammy and Tony Award-winning vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater.

On their latest release, Songs: Music of Allen Toussaint (Storyville 2019), NOJO takes a look into the mind and music of New Orleans' piano legend of Allen Tousaint, whose music has influenced generations spanning more than 50 years. In their inimitable swinging style, the Orchestra performed original big band arrangements of Toussaint's greatest hits, including "Southern Nights, "With You in Mind", "It's Raining",  "Ruler of My Heart", "Java" and "Working in the Coal Mine". The recording features Dee Dee Bridgewater and several other special guests.

Adonis Rose & New Orleans Jazz Orchestra are making their Royal Conservatory debut. 

Presenting Pertormance Partner

#TELUS

THE ROYALCONSERVATORY

Concert generously supportedby Jay & Sue Wright

Media sponsors: Toronto Life

The following synopsis is from the following source: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_Lawyer

Sebastian Rudd is a street lawyer, but not your typical street lawyer. His office is a black customized bulletproof van, complete with Wi-Fi, a bar, a small fridge, and fine leather chairs. He has no firm, no partners, and only one employee: his heavily armed driver, who used to be his client, and who also happens to be his bodyguard, law clerk, confidant, golf caddie, and his only friend. 

Sebastian drinks small-batch bourbon and carries a gun. His beautiful ex-wife is a lawyer too, and she left him for another woman while still they were married. He only gets to see his son for 36 hours per month and his ex-wife wants to stop all visits. 

He defends people other lawyers won't go near: a drug-addled, tattooed kid rumored to be in a satanic cult who is (falsely) accused of murdering two girls; a vicious crime lord on death row who ends up escaping before Rudd's eyes; a homeowner arrested for shooting at a SWAT team that mistakenly invaded his house, and killed his wife and dogs; a Mixed martial arts fighter previously financed by Rudd who killed a referee after losing a fight. In between these adventures, he's contacted by a serial kidnapper and killer who's involved in human trafficking, and knows the whereabouts of the assistant chief of police's missing daughter.

Personal Commentary: This novel is about intrigue and suspense that leaves the reader wondering about the reality of this kind of legal environment. Thus it feels unbelievable and possibly true as the times are a changing. 

In Conversation with CNN's Fareed Zakaria moderated by Matt Galloway, CBC Radio

                                                                                                           

On Tuesday, November 11, 2025 I listened to the livestream event with Fareed Zakaria presented by the Rothman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The following is a synposis of Zakaria's presentation.

Known for his ability to make sense of complex international issues, Zakaria brought a rare perspective that bridges politics, economics, and culture.

Matt Galloway, host of CBC’s The Current moderated the conversation.

In his timely new book, Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present, Zakaria explores how sweeping political, economic, technological, and cultural transformations have shaped the modern world, and how the upheavals of our own time may define the decades to come. From the Industrial Revolution to today’s digital age, Zakaria traces the forces that disrupt societies, reorder power, and redefine what is possible.

With his hallmark clarity and breadth of vision, Zakaria guided the listeners through the great transformations of the past to illuminate the challenges and opportunities of the present.

Personal Commentary: During his presentation, Zakaria clearly expressed his viewpoints that made it easy to understand the world events as they unfold on a daily basis.

Walrus Talks: Sovereign Canada

WALRUS TALKS 

Topic: Sovereign Canada: Exploring the past, present, and future of Canadian sovereignty in a changing world

Date: Tuesday. October 28, 2025

Location: Isabel Bader Theatre, 93 Charles St. W, Toronto, Ontario.

Hosted by:  Jennifer Hollett, Executive Director, The Walrus 

Welcome Remarks by: Colette Watson, President, Rogers Sports and Media

Featured Speakers:

Stephen Maher, Journalist and Novelist

Marisa Beck, Research Director, Clean Growth, Canadian Climate Institute

Jesse McCormick, Consultant, Indigenous Participation in Major Project Developments

Richard Sturberg, Former Media Executive, Assistant Deputy Minister for Culture and Broadcasting, and Head of English Services at CBC

Deanna Horton, Distinguished Fellow at the Munk School ofGlobal Affairs and Public Policy at

the University ofToronto and at the Asia Pacific Foundation ofCanada

The Hon. James Moore, Former Minister of Industry

Sean Speer, Co-founder and Editor at Large at The Hub

Personal Commentary: This session was explanatory as delivered by the above-named speakers. It provided a wide range of descriptive notions of Canada as experienced by a culturally diverse Canadian population. 

TED Membership Event: Chris Hadfield

On October 28, 2025 I listened to the virtual TED Membership Event: Chris Hadfield.

Brief Background: Chris Austin Hadfield (born August 29, 1959) is a Canadian retired astronaut, engineer, fighter pilot, musician, and writer.


As the first Canadian to perform extravehicular activity in outer space he has flown two Space Shuttle missions and also served as commander of the International Space Station (ISS).

Prior to his career as an astronaut, he served in the Canadian Armed Forces for 25 years as an Air Command fighter pilot.

Personal Commentary: It was superb listening to Chris Hadfield speak about his experiences as an Astronaut and specifically his experiences of being in space.