The Great Hall is a Platinum winner in The Toronto Star Reader’s Choice 2019 – Best Banquet Facility Category. Thank you to all who voted and to The Toronto Star for your recognition.
See the full list of winners here: Toronto Star Reader’s Choice 2019 – Best Banquet Facility Category
The ancient Greeks believed that weddings that take place during a full Moon will be the most prosperous and happiest. It was no accident that Heather and Scott tied the knot at The Great Hall on November 4, 2017, under the full moons bright glow.
The Main Hall hosted all the monumental moments of the evening. At the beginning of the evening, Heather and Scott’s 160 guests enthusiastically filled the seats in the Main Hall to witness their beautiful ceremony against the theatre’s backdrop before moving to the Conversation Room to join in a toast to the newlyweds.
An array of delicacies were served for dinner back in the Main Hall on both the main floor and mezzanine level. Five unique food stations consisting of oysters, sushi, perogies and more were thoroughly enjoyed by all in attendance. As the dessert stations began to roll in, the music turned up and the dance floor began. Guests from the mezzanine quickly took notice and joined the wedding party on the dance floor and stayed there for the rest of the evening.
Cheers to Heather and Scott! May this next chapter be prosperous and full of happiness.
Grace Loves Lace Toronto Concierge
Cult Australian favourite wedding dress designer Grace Loves Lace is coming to Canada for their exclusive debut, a Toronto Concierge event, only at The Great Hall, March 10-19, 2017.
It’s no surprise that North American brides-to-be have fallen hard for the luxurious, effortlessly unique yet surprisingly affordable wedding gowns Grace Loves Lace offers, just as much as Aussie ladies. Setting up shop on The Great Hall’s corner of West Queen West — a hot spot for Toronto style and creativity — was a clear choice for the fashion-forward brand.
From across their native Australia, to their new showroom in Venice, CA and on the wedding style circuit, Grace Loves Lave is recognized for creating bridal sanctuaries in bright spaces with high ceilings, their signature clean white, hardwood and timber floors, and vintage-inspired details. The Great Hall’s secluded Drawing Room makes a perfect fit for this GLL design statement with its dark wood floors, original Palladian arch and mullioned windows overlooking West Queen West, wrought iron chandelier and original 1889 architectural details. The Drawing Room’s sleek gourmet kitchen and grand bar will also be set with the sparkling wine, rose tea and nibbles that are a finishing touch to Grace Loves Lace concierge events.
Ontario brides are invited to submit their requests for a complimentary one-on-one Grace Loves Lace styling session appointment in Toronto online now. You and your guests will also have an opportunity to check out The Great Hall’s other three newly restored event venues, made for weddings, social occasions and other celebrations with groups from 10 to 300.
Be sure to register today for Grace Loves Lace Toronto Concierge, #GLLxTO, at The Great Hall. Then, let’s find “the dress” and get married, Toronto!
www.graceloveslace.com.au #GLLxTO
Dresses shown in photos include, from left to right, Grace Loves Lace’s Sofia, Gia, Arlo (with Roberta lace cape) and Soho styles. See more of their modern French lace creations right here.
The Great Hall is proud to serve as the host venue and a production partner when THE COLLECTIONS™ presents RE\SET Fashion, in collaboration with Robin Kay, on February 6 and 7, 2017. Held over two nights, RE\SET will feature a curated group of Canadian designers showcasing influential fashion throughout our recently restored historic Toronto venue at 1087 Queen St. W.
RE/SET is designed around three main objectives: to allow designer to connect with buyers, media and consumers; to re-form the traditional designer presentation model in a fresh direction, and to rethink Canada’s fashion identity while inspiring awareness.
Notable RE\SET designers include: Vogue’s Designer to Watch and DHL Exported winner, Sid Neigum; Forbes’ 2017 Art and Style ‘30 Under 30’ design duo, Beaufille; Toronto-based duo, Markoo; contemporary womenswear Hilary MacMillan; signature avant-garde brand, Pedram Karimi; satirical contemporary street brand WRKDEPT, and menswear lines Thomas Bálint and Klaxon Howl. RE\SET will also present a two-day showroom featuring ready-to-wear designers Namesake, Tara Rivas for TMR, S.P. Badu, Triarchy, accessory designers Dean Davidson, Krane, Cuchara, Dolorous, Uncuffed Leather, and shoes by Zvelle.
“The Great Hall has long been committed to supporting, nurturing and showcasing world-class artistic talent,” said Steve Metlitski, president of Triangle Development and owner of The Great Hall.
“Canada’s fashion industry is an integral part of our country’s arts and culture, and we are thrilled to provide the backdrop for Canada’s top design talent to showcase their collections this season.” READ FULL RE\SET PRESS RELEASE
Join the RE\SET Fashion event conversation by following or tagging @resetFSN and #resetFSN and via our The Great Hall Instagram, Twitter and Facebook feeds.
If you are interested in a production site or booking one of our four restored heritage venues, simply email bookings@thegreathall.ca.
Just in time for the 2016 holiday gift season, The Great Hall hosted the December release party for the latest remastered version of the Nike Air Jordan XI (11) “Space Jam.”
Designed to mark the 20th anniversary of the Space Jam movie opening, this iconic “Monstars Mash” shoe updates the classic originally worn by Michael Jordan in the film, and later on court. Similar to what Jordan originally wore during his 1995 NBA Playoffs return, with its traditional all-black mesh and high cut black patent leather upper, unique new shoe details include a stitched ’45’ on the back heel, and the Concord Jumpman on both the upper back of the shoe and the tongue tab.
Décor for the Nike Space Jam event in The Great Hall’s Main Hall also highlighted elements from the special edition Looney Tunes and Bugs Bunny themed box, with a graphic of Bugs Bunny’s and The Monstar’s arms wrapping around each other to create the number ’23.’ Graphic banners were hung all along Main Hall’s U-shaped balcony to celebrate the movie tie-ins.
Other interactive areas spread out across the 10,00 sq. ft. venue included a lounge section with video array, a basketball hoop, and, of course, a shoe display case. A large scale screen filled the Main Hall stage and colour-themed lighting made full use of The Great Hall’s all-new Adamson and Westbury A/V system.
Outside, more Nike Space Jam graphics wrapped the entire lower floor of this corner-situated heritage building, creating an eye-catching exterior arrival experience for the event and generating plenty of interest from passing Queen St. W traffic.
This Nike corporate event for street style stars, retail partners and Toronto tastemakers was a score from start to finish.
For more event back story, watch DEFY, a 90-second Nike Space Jam video spot, here.
If you’d like to connect with us about booking your own product launch or shoot in one of The Great Hall’s four restored 1889 venues, simply email bookings@thegreathall.ca with your event details and preferred dates.
“CRX is the less obvious (but in my opinion, far superior) side project that has spun out of New York five-piece garage rockers The Strokes. Formed by guitarist Nick Valensi, the band features Ralph Alexander of The Dose, Richie Follin of Guards, along with Darian Zahedi and Jon Safley of The Reflections. Unlike the solo albums from Julian Casablancas and Albert Hammond, Jr. (which are decent, but ultimately reside in the nether regions of my basement music horde – unplayed), CRX is a 10 song, 30-minute opus that hits the listener like a bucket of cold water in the face. In the weeks since it’s release, I’ve played it way more than everything by Casablancas and Hammond, Jr. combined.
This evening’s Toronto performance was very much like the recently released CRX debut album, entitled New Skin; It was rife with wonderful uptempo buzz-saw guitar riffs, boasted an excellent array of original songs, ended too soon and ultimately left everyone wanting more. Not a bad way to deliver an album, and not a bad way to end a show, really.
Cast amidst some muted lighting (hardly any front lights and green, blue, red and yellow back flood lighting), The five members of CRX played all but one of the songs on their new album out of sequence, stopping briefly between songs to chat a bit with the audience. Nick commented on the venue, how happy he was to be back in Canada, touched on the US Presidential Election results, and joked a bit about their tour-mates, Streets of Laredo and The Gloomies.
Streets of Laredo (New York by way of New Zealand) and The Gloomies (California) both offered up quality sets this evening. Streets of Laredo, an uptempo folk band, heavy on the percussion, put on a cool 30 minute set of music. The band are on our very own Dine Alone Records, and were quite entertaining to watch and hear. The Gloomies took the stage at 8pm all decked out in white pants and shirts and played a half hour of fresh indie-pop, rife with some cool guitar riffs and a vibe that can only come from the hot southern California locale.
This was an up-close-and-personal evening featuring three cool bands in a lovely venue for not a lot of money! A great evening of music – I’m feeling a post-concert glow today that only comes from a winning evening of live music.” By Mike Bax SET LIST & SHOW PHOTOS
Only hours after taping their The Ellen Show appearance and hitting over 5 million listens for a single song on Spotify, Joseph shared the new music that is bringing them growing acclaim, and that singular sister act sound, with a captivated The Great Hall audience including Spill Magazine.
“Joseph brought their signature, intricate harmonies to warm an otherwise chilly October Tuesday evening at Toronto’s newly renovated Great Hall on October 25, 2016. It was their only Canadian stop on their latest tour. The audience, mesmerized, sang along to the rising Portland indie rock trio’s songs from their second album, I’m Alone, No You’re Not (ATO Records). Brian Kesley and Will Tendy backed Joseph sisters Natalie, Meegan and Allie Closner. William Wild from Knoxville, Tennessee was the opening act.
Natalie Closner, the guitarist-singer-songwriter and eldest sister of the talented family trio grounded the powerful band with her energetic, foot-stomping rhythms and edgy vocals. The twins, Meeg (often centre stage) and Allie, along with Natalie filled the venue’s cathedral ceilings with their soaring, ethereal harmonies that have earned Joseph its much-deserved breakout success.
The Great Hall stage recalled a venue in Nashville – the city where Natalie honed her musical craft. The concert’s sequence of songs, including a cover of “Moonlight Mile” by The Rolling Stones, blended seamlessly while building toward the group’s current hit single “White Flag.” Joseph’s encore closed with two members of William Wild joining to sing “Sweet Dreams,” a song dedicated to the sisters’ mother. Near the end of the show, Natalie explained that Toronto was their first and only show without their drummer, who unfortunately got turned away at the border due to Visa issues; his absence was hardly noticed, however, due to the band’s tight musicianship.” READ FULL STORY
Get Spill Magazine’s full interview with Natalie Closner of Joseph here.
In the midst of our restoration and renovation, The Great Hall is very honoured to have been nominated again as a 2016 NOW Toronto Readers’ Choice Awards finalist, in the “Music: Best Concert Hall” category.
You pick the best of the city! It’s time to vote for The Great Hall and the other best of Toronto nominees across 6 categories and 180+ awards.
After getting more than 20,000 nominations for the best personalities and businesses across the city, NOW Toronto has posted the final contenders for NOW Readers Choice to be named “Toronto’s best” – as chosen by you!
To vote for The Great Hall and all your other favourites click here — and be sure to scroll down to the Best Concert Hall category.
You can vote for every single sub-category if you’d like. This is the NOW Readers Choice poll after all: you are the expert. Share what you think should be recognized in Toronto and be sure to promote your picks on social media with the hashtag #NOWReadersChoice.
NOW Toronto Readers’ Choice Awards voting closes on September 16, 2016. Winners will be announced in early November. Rock the vote NOW Toronto!
And if you haven’t been to The Great Hall lately, be sure to check our event calendar and pick up tickets for an upcoming concert or show to enjoy our four venues with all new A/V, air conditioning, bars, restored heritage décor and accessible facilities.
The Toronto Star previews Julia Holter’s sold-out March 4, 2016 performance at The Great Hall.
“You can always count on Julia Holter for a change in direction. Her fourth album, last year’s Have You in My Wilderness, marks a notable departure from her earlier, more avant-garde work. Rather than being centralized around a theme, like 2011’s Tragedy (the Euripedes play Hippolytus), 2012’s Ekstasis (author Virginia Woolf, in part) and 2013’s Loud City Song (the 1958 movie musical Gigi), this collection of ethereal electronic-fueled songs is simply that: a collection of ethereal electronic-fuelled songs.
Holter, who will perform at the Great Hall on Friday and whose album topped a number of year-end Top 10 lists, says some of the compositions were simply awaiting proper fermentation before their release was considered.
“I started writing these songs a while ago and I guess this album was asking to be made because . . . I guess I just wanted to make sort of like a collection of ’60s pop ballads or something . . . just love songs, basically,” a distracted-sounding Holter said over the phone, somewhere between Ohio and Minneapolis.
“I didn’t try to do it for awhile, but I think that my projects are kind of like in different realms. It didn’t make sense to do a record of ballads while I was doing Loud City Song or Tragedy: those were more immediate concerns at the time as I already had a collection of songs that fit on those records.”
Naming three ballads, “Sea Calls Me Home,” “Betsy on the Roof” and the title track as the catalysts to completing Have You in My Wilderness, Holter rejects the notion that her newer material is more “accessible.”’ READ FULL STORY
For the full line-up of current events, concerts and shows at The Great Hall, click calendar.
Brush toting fighters gird up for Art Battle
A uniquely artistic sport, the live painting competition created by two Torontonians has spread to 55 cities.
The Great Hall hosts a number of recurring creative, cultural and uniquely Toronto events including Art Battle, a timed live painting competition that originated in our venue back in 2009 and has now expanded across Canada, the U.S. and around the globe. Check out this Art Battle Toronto Star story about the growing arts and entertainment phenomenon. Then come watch and vote on — or paint in — Art Battle Toronto at The Great Hall for yourself, soon.
‘“It’s sort of Fight Club for painters.”
Mark Liam Smith is describing what happens when you give an artist 20 minutes to fill a blank canvas in front of a few hundred cheering spectators.
Toronto’s first monthly Art Battle of the year was held Tuesday night at The Great Hall on artsy West Queen West. Sixteen competitors vied to win over the audience, who voted via their smartphones.
It was Smith’s first time duking it out for the chance at a cash prize and spot at the Toronto finals in June. The 42-year-old paints full time and moved to the city just last month, hoping to land representation.
“The life of a painter is a pretty solitary life,” said Smith, who is colour-blind. Battling his peers Tuesday night was a way to connect with the art community, and he was happy to accept invitations from fellow painters to visit their galleries.
Those kinds of connections are exactly what the Art Battle’s founders hope to spark.
Simon Plashkes, 34, and Chris Pemberton, 39, have planned many events together over the years, including an interactive installation at Nuit Blanche and a salon-style speaker series. The idea for a live painting competition came to them when they were thinking of an entertaining intermission between speakers in 2009.
“It greatly outshone the rest of the evening,” said Plashkes.
That’s when they decided to hold it as a stand-alone event at The Great Hall that fall, and it’s become a monthly fixture in the community since.’ READ FULL STORY
Art Battle Toronto takes place monthly at The Great Hall (with a brief summer hiatus). Get the schedule for upcoming Art Battle events right here.
