Gordon Pinsent, a legend of Canadian screen and stage, made his Stratford Festival debut in MacBeth back in 1962 alongside fellow rising star Christopher Plummer. On Sept. 26, the two were reunited at this year's Stratford Festival gala in Toronto, where Plummer honoured Pinsent with a Legacy Award.
Upstairs at the Four Seasons Hotel, before the big award was presented and dinner was served, cocktails were held for a select bunch of Stratford greats, political types and arts-minded benefactors. Among them: The Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario; former Ontario Premier David Peterson and his wife, actress and author Shelley; Blackberry founder and Quantum Valley Investments co-founder Mike Lazaridis and his wife Ophelia; and developer John Daniels and his wife Myrna.
Downstairs in the hotel's main ballroom, the typical gala mix of remarks and thank-you speeches were happening. Sprinkled throughout the evening were a handful of performances from the current crop of Stratford festival talent, the very people who are supported by the gala's proceeds, including Seana McKenna, Antoine Yared and Krystin Pellerin. Rounding out the evening was a performance by Travis Good of the band The Sadies and Greg Keelor of Blue Rodeo, dedicated to the guest of honour. Antoni Cimolino, the festival's artistic director was holding court at the table next to mine and spoke to the crowd, singing the praises of Grand Falls, Nfld.-born Pinsent. "Our company isn't just the 200-plus artists who are working with us in any given season," said Cimolino. "It's a community that stretches back in time and forward in time and includes all the incredibly gifted people from the past who have helped makes us who we are."
Proceeds from the $1,500-a-ticket gala help keep the festival's four stages buzzing with productions and new talent, and will aid in the development of platforms for the internationally recognized festival to expand its audiences. Speaking of expanding audiences, my host, Barry Avrich, who attended with his wife Melissa Manly, and co-chaired the gala alongside AGF Investments executive VP Robert Badun and philanthropist Wendy Pitblado, has been producing and directing Stratford's Shakespearean productions for the big screen, allowing audiences who can't make it to southern Ontario the chance to take in the company's productions.
Also out: legendary newsman and gala host Lloyd Robertson; director Norman Jewison and wife Lynne St. David; broadcast executive and author Denise Donlon and singer Murray McLauchlan; actress Louise Pitre; BMO Financial Group's director of corporate donations Nada Ristich; and philanthropic types including Nona Macdonald Heaslip and Jack Rabinovitch.
On Sept. 29, it was a party at Holt Renfrew's Toronto Bloor Street flagship that was the hot ticket. Alexandra Weston, the luxe department store's director of brand and creative strategy, and the brains behind H Project and the Uncrate collection, which partners well-known designers with talented artisans around the globe, hosted the do to launch the latest lineup that focuses on South America.
Guests descended to the store's dimly lit lower level, which was dressed with the sights and sounds of Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru – the countries Weston visited earlier this year to source products for this latest collection, available now at Holt Renfrew locations across Canada and online. The entire space was festooned with strings of joyfully hued pompoms and, in one corner of the space, was a swing inspired by Equador's Swing at the End of the World. Earlier in the evening, before the party kicked off, a panel discussion led by Globe Style's Andrew Sardone was held in the store. Weston, alongside fellow panellists Andrea Lenczner and Christie Smythe of the fashion label Smythe, Franceska Earls from the label Augden, designer Ulla Johnson, and Kessa Laxton and Roxanne Joyal from the organization Me to We, dove into the topic of positive change in the fashion industry.
Celebrating the best style finds South America has to offer: Drake Hotel owner Jeff Stober; model Liisa Winkler; handbag designer Ela Kowalewska and her husband and business partner Martin Aldorsson; jewellery designer Jenny Bird; creative types Maryam Keyhani and Carly Stojsic; designers Amanda Lew Kee, Andrew Coimbra and Philip Sparks; decorator and television personality Tommy Smythe; real-estate developer Michael von Teichman; actor Jade Hassouné; lawyer Anjli Patel; and Loblaw executive chairman and president Galen Weston Jr.
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