One of the sure signs of summer in Toronto is the arrival of Luminato Festival. For ten full days, Toronto will be the hub of some major arts and cultural events both on the local and international level.

As in previous years, I have taken a peek at the festival programming and have chosen a few events that sound fun and interesting. This list includes both free and ticketed events. It also includes somewhat a variety in types of events, as Luminato offers a wide range of options for all tastes.

Friday to Sunday, June 6-15th
11:00 pm – Edward Day Gallery
Jason Collett’s Basement Revue at Luminato 
Admission: $20

Hosted by Jason Collett, Basement Revue unfolds nightly at the festival, with each evening’s program remaining a mystery right up until show time. Impromptu appearances and unscripted performances are all part of the fun. The Revue also serves as the official, nightly after-party for all festival artists, so there’s no telling who you’ll be seeing at the bar or who’ll decide to leap onstage.

The Revue is curated by Collett and poet Damian Rogers. There you may encounter the likes of Metric’s James Shaw performing a version of Pink Floyd’s “Nobody’s Home” on the piano, or Margaret Atwood stepping up to the mic in front of one of Toronto’s most celebrated bands and saying, with her characteristic deadpan wit, “Hit it, Sadies.”

As is tradition for the Basement Revue, each night’s performers remain a surprise to the audience until they step on stage. Even the performers themselves are kept in the dark, adding an extra element of mystery to the evening.

Friday, June 6th
10:00 pm – Festival Hub at David Pecaut Square
Jesse Cook
With special guest Amanda Martinez
Free Admission

Paris-born guitarist and composer, Jesse Cook, has earned legendary status as the foremost, and most gifted, proponent of the nouveau flamenco movement, blending flamenco with rumba and jazz to achieve a singularly dazzling sound. For his Luminato debut, Cook will be joined on two songs by Toronto-based singer-songwriter Amanda Martinez, whose own flamenco fieriness draws on Mexican and South African influences.

Saturday, June 7th
12:00 pm – Festival Hub at David Pecaut Square
Taste of the Beach – Food at The Hub
Mary Luz Mejia, chef curator and event host
Free Admission

This year, ten local chefs will be paired with ten Festival artists to create a unique and delectable summertime dish that explores the flavours of eating at the beach – all hot off the barbecue! Cocktails, DJs Sound Culture (Chicago) and Richard Blair of Sidestepper (Bogotá) will add to the pulsating heat at the Festival Hub, creating a true culinary exhibition. Sounds deliciously tempting to me!

Saturday, June 7th
9:00 pm – Festival Hub at David Pecaut Square
The Roots
Admission: $35

The Roots are ranked among the 10 greatest rap groups of all time by Rolling Stone. The Grammy Award-winning band was formed in Philadelphia more than 25 years ago by Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. They have been the house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon since the show’s inception in 2009 and recently migrated with Fallon to The Tonight Show in New York City.

If you’re a fan of The Roots, this is one concert I highly recommend you check out at Luminato this year.

Sunday, June 8th
2:00 pm – MaRS Discovery District
TimesTalks Luminato – Daniel Lanois and Select Guests
Moderated by New York Times Managing Editor of Video, Bruce Headlam
Admission: $25

This conversation will focus on Lanois’ tremendous impact on contemporary music both within Canada and internationally, including his work with U2, Neil Young and Bob Dylan, the power and poetry of his compositions and the evolving role of the producer within the rapidly changing music industry.

Host for the event, Bruce Headlam, is the managing editor of video for The New York Times since 2013. Under Mr. Headlam, the New York Times Monday Business section won the 2008 Newhouse School Award for Overall Excellence and his writers have won various awards under his editorial leadership.

Monday, June 9th
9:00 pm – Festival Hub at David Pecaut Square
Bebel Gilberto
Brazilian Samba Soul with Aline Morales
Free Admission

Among Brazilian jazz artists, Bebel Gilberto is true royalty. She is the daughter of legendary guitarist and vocalist João Gilberto and esteemed singer Miúcha. But Bebel, who has been performing since childhood, is a full-fledged star in her own right, putting her uniquely vibrant spin on bossa nova traditions.

Warming things up on-stage for Bebel will be Toronto-based Aline Morales. For her Luminato debut, Morales and her quintet will play an all-original, all-Brazilian set that goes beyond Brazil by flavouring traditional samba and bossa beats with African and European sounds.

Tuesday, June 10th
9:30 pm – Festival Hub at David Pecaut Square
Tanya Tagaq presents Nanook of the North
Northern Lights & Music double bill with Buffy Sainte-Marie
Free Admission

In 1922, filmmaker Robert J. Flaherty paved the way for the modern documentary with his contentious but momentous chronicle of a year in the life of Inuit Nanook and his family near the Arctic Circle, Nanook of the North. Now innovative throat singer Tanya Tagaq, known for her work with Björk and the Kronos Quintet, draws upon her family’s history in far northern Quebec and her own Nunavut childhood to reclaim Flaherty’s masterpiece. With music composed by Derek Charke, Tagaq unites with two equally celebrated musicians— violinist Jesse Zubot and percussionist Jean Martin—to reactualize the film’s silent images with emotive soundscapes.

Tanya Tagaq in concert with Nanook of the North was commissioned by TIFF Bell Lightbox as part of its film retrospective First Peoples Cinema: 1500 Nations, One Tradition.

Wednesday, June 11th
9:00 pm – Festival Hub at David Pecaut Square
Keys on the Street – A recital of Urban Dance and Piano
Angela Hewitt; with choreography by Tré Armstrong
Free Admission

For some, it may be difficult to imagine the union between classical music and urban dance, but two outstanding Canadian artists—pianist Angela Hewitt and choreographer Tré Armstrong— hope to prove they can make this union work. Armstrong, most recognizable as So You Can Dance Canada judge, leads a troupe of the finest urban dancers to physically respond to Hewitt’s piano playing. Hewitt is best known for her cycle of Bach recordings, crafted between 1995 and 2004. An Officer of the Order of the British Empire, she is also founder and Artistic Director of the Trasimeno Music Festival in Umbria, Italy.

Part of this program will include music from J.S. Bach, Debussy, and others.

Thursday, June 12th
8:00 pm – The Theatre Centre
Copycat Talks – Kendell Geers: Following the Blind Man (Marcel Duchamp and the Voodoun Connection)
Admission: $15

“In the spring of 1912, Marcel Duchamp left Paris for Munich on a 3 month sojourn that would ultimately change the course of twentieth century art.” This is how the lecture begins, and after it ends you will never think about Duchamp or art in the 20th century the same way.

Kendell Geers is a conceptual and installation artist who was born in May, 1968 in Johannesburg, South Africa – he changed his name and birthdate officially as a political act of self-creation. In the late 1980s, he went into exile and only returned to South Africa after the release of Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners.

Friday, June 13th
8:00 pm – Festival Hub at David Pecaut Square
Saidah Baba Talibah

Her mother is Canada’s “First Lady of the Blues,” Salome Bey. Toronto’s Saidah Baba Talibah isn’t one to rest on family laurels. Her singular sound, a scorching blend of rock, blues and raunchy soul, has taken her from Singapore to Brooklyn’s Afro Punk and shaped the killer album (S)cream, which bested more than 300 competitors to win the inaugural Soundclash Music Award. Saidah is one of my favourite Toronto artists.

Saturday, June 14th
2:00 pm and 8:00 pm
Berkeley Street Theatre, Upstairs
Bullet Catch
Admission: $45

Performer, director, playwright and magician Rob Drummond becomes William Wonder to tell the incredible story of William Henderson, who died on stage while attempting to catch a bullet, a stunt so dangerous even Houdini refused to attempt it. A feast of theatrical magic, Bullet Catch combines storytelling, mindreading, levitation, games of chance and, for those brave enough to stay, the most notorious finale in show business.

Sunday, June 15th
12:00 pm – Trinity Bellwoods Park
A Literary Picnic
Free Admission

A Literary Picnic is the heart and soul of Luminato’s Day of Literary Activity. Forty-five of the city’s finest writers will be gathered in Trinity Bellwoods Park, where they will present their thoughts and views and read from their own and other authors’ work during the festival’s daylong celebration of Toronto, the Unseen.

Austin Clarke, winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the unparalleled chronicler of Caribbean immigrants to Toronto; Barry Callaghan, denizen of the city’s bygone speakeasies and jazz clubs and connoisseur of its shoe-beaten sidewalks; Ins Choi, the sensational playwright of “Kim’s Convenience” and “Subway Stations of the Cross”;  Don Gillmor, witness to the aspirations and foibles of the city’s moneyed classes; Andrew Pyper, masterful thriller writer, and Zoe Whitall, her young and queer adults making their way in the dyspeptic city are but a few of the extraordinary writers who will help to paint an unforgettable portrait of Unseen Toronto. Ben McNally Books and the Toronto Public Library Bookmobile will also be present.

These are some of the many events Luminato will offer starting this Friday, June 6th until Sunday, June 15th throughout various venues in the city. For full festival event listings, box office, and venue information visit luminatofestival.com.  Now, grab your calendars and start planning!