Feast on music, art or dance during your downtown lunch break
A bevy of culture-friendly options awaits workers hoping to maximize free time
I work at Bay and Adelaide Sts. and have access to nearby power lunches and a lunch-hour yoga that gets me in and out of a class in less than 60 minutes. How can I fill my daily break with culture and make it back to my desk for an afternoon meeting?
Most people spend the minutes between noon and 1 p.m. eating sad desk lunches and catatonically scrolling through social media apps, so the fact that you’re aspiring to do more — let alone something cultural — is impressive.
Luckily, your office is located within walking distance of a bevy of culture-friendly options, so you’re spoiled for lunch-hour choice.
The Canadian Opera Company’s Free Concert Series at the Four Seasons Centre is just a hop, skip and a pirouette away. Catch live vocal, piano, jazz, dance, chamber and world music performances every Tuesday and Thursday at noon, but be sure to eat beforehand, since loud chewing tends to be frowned upon inside the intimate Richard Bradshaw Am- phitheatre, where the concerts are held.
If picnics are more your style, you’ll be psyched for this summer’s Lunchtime Live, a series of free outdoor concerts by Canadian bands held on Mondays at 12:30 p.m. at YongeDundas Square. Pack sandwiches and enjoy that glorious vitamin D.
For a classical music fix, hit up Music Mondays at the Church of the Holy Trinity, where emerging local artists give free concerts on Mondays at noon from May through August (religious devotion not required).
Want to treat your eyes to something other than a computer screen? Head to First Canadian Place and check out the FCP Gallery, an art space that’s open to the public from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. every Monday to Friday. The gallery’s next exhibition is City of Dreams, which aims to explore “the effects of the urban experience on visual artists.”
You can also stroll over to the Wellington Street Art Gallery (between John St. and Blue Jays Way) to peruse contemporary and abstract art, or mosey on up to OCAD U, where a number of the student galleries are free to explore even for us old working stiffs.
Try not to mourn your carefree college days too much and just enjoy the art, man.
The details
Canadian Opera Company, 145 Queen St. W., 416-363-8231, coc.ca
Yonge-Dundas Square, 1 Dundas St. E., 416-979-9960, ydsquare.ca
Church of the Holy Trinity, 10 Trinity Square, 416-598-4521, holytrinitytoronto.org
FCP Gallery, 100 King St. W., 416862-6290, myfirstcanadianplace.ca
Wellington Street Art Gallery, 270 Wellington St. W., 647-352-3463, wellingtonstreetartgallery.ca
OCAD U Student Gallery, 52 McCaul St., 416-977-6000, ext. 263, ocadu.ca/gallery/studentgallery.htm