Plum Viewing
Welcome to the latest edition of Plum Viewing, my weekly roundup of arts and culture to enjoy online.
Hello lovely readers. This week’s Plum Viewing is a tad shorter because well, it’s just been that kind of a week. But, hopefully I’ve given you a few things that pique your interest. I promise I’ll be back with an abundance of recommendations next week (she says confidently…now!)
So with that, here are this week’s picks…
On Tuesday, Sept 28, none other than Ms. Anita Hill herself will grace NYC’s Town Hall stage to present and reflect on her latest book Believing. It goes without saying that Hill is very much part of our collective memory. Thirty years ago, she sat before the Senate Judiciary Committee during the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas and gave her landmark testimony on sexual harassment she endured working for him. It is more than worth your time to revisit these recordings. Oh god, the line of questioning this woman had to endure, which she did with such grace and composure.
In her new book, she offers new insights into her experience and chronicles the stories of others to reveal how gender-based violence has become a tenacious “feature of our social experience” in the United States. The event, which is streaming live, starts at 8 pm ET and you can reserve your ticket here.
The New Yorker Festival is something I look forward to every year. When Mr. Fairs and I lived in NYC, we had the opportunity to enjoy it in person (those were the days). And, the New Yorker even ventured north one year and came to Toronto.
This year, the New Yorker is following the trend of the hybrid model (the new ‘pivot’ of our time) and offering the festival both online and in person. It kicks off on Oct 4, and this year’s line-up includes amongst many others: Dr. Jane Goodall, Merrick Garland in conversation with Jane Mayer (what I would give to have a conversation with Jane Mayer!) and Dave Gohl (he of Foo Fighters and Nirvana fame) speaking and performing. You can check out the full line up and reserve your tickets here.
The Montreal Symphony Orchestra began its 2021/2022 season last week with new music director, Rafael Payare leading this gorgeous performance: Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony. Composed in 1937, Fifth Symphony is a landmark heroic period piece believed to be Shostakovich’s attempt to “conform to Soviet-era symphonies”, with the traditional structure and instrumentation evoking a hero’s life and death. It was and remains an incredibly powerful piece of music.
The full concert will be available to enjoy here on the Montreal Symphony Orchestra website from Oct 5 to Nov 7 and tickets are $20. I am so looking forward to this!
On October 6, Toronto’s AGO will open Picasso: Painting the Blue Period. So, to help get us ready for this, let’s join Kenneth Brummel, associate curator of modern art for a conversation about the iconic AGO Collection work by Pablo Picasso, Femme assise. This event took place on Dec 20, 2020 and it’s a great conversation to revisit time and again.
And, to end, I’ll leave you with a book recommendation: The Lost Pianos of Siberia by Sophy Roberts. A British travel writer, Roberts spent three years travelling across Siberia in search of different instruments to find one whose history is definitively Siberian. Part travelogue and part history lesson, it’s a captivating story of how, ever since entering Russian culture under the westernizing influence of Catherine the Great, piano music has run through the country like blood. I learned so much about Russia and its rich, complicated history reading this book. Although, during one particularly magical scene when I turned to Mr. Fairs with a suggestion of planning a trip to Siberia, I was met with a very definitive, “No, Maggie, we will not be doing that.” Alas, I tried.
And, have you read Hamnet yet? If not, stop reading this and go buy it now. My goodness, it is truly beautiful, heartbreaking and devastatingly, all in the best possible ways.
Ok, that’s it. See you next week!
And, an ask: While we’re enjoying these wonderful performances, let’s remember that for the arts organizations producing this incredible content, this is their livelihood; not a hobby. If we can, now is our time to continue to support our incredible arts community!
And, if you’d like to receive Plum Viewing weekly, send me a note at maggiefairs@gmail.com and I will add you to my mailing list.