Party Pages: Artists, philanthropists and Margaret Atwood at the Art of Time Ensemble Salon

Party Pages: Artists, philanthropists and Margaret Atwood at the Art of Time Ensemble Salon

We’re fairly sure that having a piano quartet playing in the living room is a normal after-supper digestive for many Rosedale households. Having Gemini award-winner Nicholas Campbell read a monologue from the War of the Worlds, is likely more of a rarity. That experience, however, was part of the fifth annual Art of Time Ensemble Salon this past Wednesday night. Held at a private mansion (the kind with a lion-shaped door knocker and a tennis court-sized kitchen), the fundraiser for the venerable music ensemble drew creative types (painter Rundi Phelan, actor and Paul Gross sweetheart Martha Burns, director Daniel Brooks), philanthropists (Jim Fleck, CAMH chair Ana Lopes, Donald and Gretchen Ross) and the generally fabulous (James Stewart, the mathematician/text book writer who built possibly the most opulent residence in Toronto).

Click here to see all the photos from the Art of Time Ensemble Salon »

After nibbling Vietnamese spring rolls and sipping flutes of prosecco, the 80 guests settled into an art-lined parlour. There, AOT artistic director Andrew Burashko introduced an eclectic selection of performances (the music included pieces by Schumann and Erich Korngold, and Rick Roberts and Stratford vet Lucy Peacock acted a scene from Much Ado About Nothing). The highlight, though, was when Margaret Atwood got up to read some poetry, both her own and something from August Kleinzahler. (It’s always nice to see the unstoppable Ms. Atwood in person rather than via LongPen.)