What to see, do, read and hear in Toronto this June

A survey of playful and political art

1 The title of this 50-year retrospective of legendary artist Joyce Wieland’s work, Heart On, aptly reflects her propensity for cheek. Born and raised in Toronto, Wieland worked as a graphic artist and filmmaker before moving to New York, where she discovered quilt-making. She returned home in 1971 because she couldn’t abide America’s war in Vietnam, and that same year she became the first woman to exhibit at the National Gallery of Canada. Her oeuvre celebrates the north and deals with the themes of Canadian identity, feminism and activism. With more than 100 artworks and restored films, the show commemorates the career of a central figure in Canadian art. Opens June 21, AGO

Related: A behind-the-scenes look at the Art Gallery of Ontario’s most iconic paintings

A multi-day music and dance extravaganza

2 Pride’s annual outdoor bash, the Green Space Festival, is back in a big way with a killer lineup. Open to all ages and with free admission, the five-day dance party will feature a dozen drag performances including Tynomi Banks, Aurora Matrix and Sam Star—on the first night alone. Day two will be headlined by electronic group Horse Meat Disco, followed by a house-themed rager led by twin sisters and eyewear designers turned DJs Coco and Breezy. The grand finale is a blowout show featuring Grammy-­winning producer and DJ David Morales. June 25 to 29, Barbara Hall Park

Related: Two more corporate sponsors have abandoned Pride Toronto—and it’s giving anti-DEI

A new wave record from an electropop star

3 Lights Valerie Anne Poxleitner-Bokan (yes, that’s her legal name)—a.k.a. Lights—rose to fame in the 2010s as an indie electropop darling and has been pumping out dance tracks ever since. After performing in support of her 2023 album, Warehouse Summer, last year, the Timmins-born artist is back with her sixth record, A6. She describes the new album, led by upbeat single “Damage,” as a mix of Midwest emo, synthwave soundscapes and new wave. She’s touring the record across North America this summer. June 7, History

A gripping, globe-spanning family tale

4 Born to a Korean mother and a Jewish American father, Susan Choi teaches creative writing at Yale and is a recipient of the Asian American Literary Award for Fiction. Her new novel, Flashlight, tells the story of a family in crisis: after a walk on the beach one night, 10-year-old Louisa wakes up on the shore to discover that her father has disappeared. Through the eyes of Louisa, her Korean-born father, her American mother and her estranged half-brother, Choi paints a vivid portrait of the Korean diaspora, weaving a layered narrative that involves espionage, generational trauma and 75 years of geopolitics. Out June 3

A celebration of a Canadian jazz legend

5 Born in Montreal in 1925, virtuoso jazz pianist Oscar Peterson was an eight-time Grammy winner with a career that spanned six decades. To mark the year he would have turned 100, his daughter Celine Peterson and drummer Jim Doxas have gathered the best of Canada’s jazz vocalists, pianists, guitarists, bassists and drummers for one night of exceptional music at Massey Hall. The evening’s roster includes two Order of Canada members (guitarist Reg Schwager and pianist Joe Sealy) and six Juno winners—an ensemble worthy of a legend. June 14, Massey Hall

A sweeping exhibition of Baroque masters

6 For 300 years following the Renaissance, Flanders was Europe’s premier mercantile and artistic hub. As the elites of Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp became wildly rich from early globalization, they commissioned pieces by master painters and sculptors, supporting great artists like Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck and Hans Memling. A new ROM exhibition, Saints, Sinners, Lovers, and Fools, showcases this treasure trove of talent, exploring Flemish art and history through more than 80 oil paintings, sculptures and decorations—including 17th-century cabinets of curiosities, the initial inspiration for museums themselves. Opens June 28, ROM

A memoir about the joys of celibacy

7 As a former dominatrix, Iowa-based author Melissa Febos knows a thing or two about sex. But, after a catastrophic break-up led her to reflect on a lifetime of serial relationships, Febos decided to abstain from sex and dating for a while—which, for her, meant three months. She found chastity to be surprisingly peaceful, so she extended the experiment to a year and documented her experience in a new book, The Dry Season: A Memoir of Pleasure in a Year Without Sex. Free to live on her own terms, Febos paradoxically found pleasure in abstinence. Drawing on spiritual comrades like Hildegard von Bingen, Virginia Woolf, Octavia Butler and Sappho, Febos explores the sensuality of sexlessness. Out June 3

An inaugural showcase of Canadian opera

8 Toronto’s first opera festival is launching this month, and it’s cause for celebration. In keeping with organizer Opera 5’s mission to introduce the art form to new audiences, the week-long Toronto Opera Festival is designed to be affordable and accessible. After kicking off with a gala, the festival will feature a new show by the company’s roster of emerging artists. Next up is the world premiere of general director Rachel Krehm’s Come Closer, which explores the loss of her younger sister to addiction. The week ends with three nights of William Finn’s Elegies, a tribute to the late composer’s family, friends and dogs. June 12 to 21, Factory Theatre