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Wednesday, September 4, 2013

David Mirvish in conversation with Christopher Hume presented by the Empire Club of Canada

 “Legacy and the Public Realm: Dreaming with Frank Gehry”

A Unique Lunchtime Event Exploring Toronto’s Cultural Legacy, Architecture & Urban Development

Thursday, October 3, 2013
12 Noon
Westin Harbour Castle, Metropolitan Ballroom

The Empire Club of Canada will bring together two of Canada’s foremost thinkers on the arts, architecture and urban development for a unique lunchtime discussion on October 3, 2013.

Established in 1903, the Empire Club is recognized as Canada’s oldest, largest and most distinguished speaker’s forum.

The membership and speakers are comprised of some of Canada’s most influential leaders from various professions, businesses, labour, education, government, and cultural organizations.

Over its history, the Empire Club has hosted over 3,500 prominent Canadian and international leaders – women and men who have distinguished themselves in many fields of endeavor. The list is a who’s who of the 20th and 21st centuries, everyone from Winston Churchill to the Dalai Lama.

 About David Mirvish

David Mirvish is a Canadian theatre producer, entrepreneur and art collector. A passionate supporter of the theatre and Canada’s artistic community, Mr. Mirvish is the owner and operator of Toronto’s Royal Alexandra Theatre, Princess of Wales Theatre, Ed Mirvish Theatre and Panasonic Theatre. Mr. Mirvish and his father, Ed Mirvish, also purchased and restored the renowned Old Vic Theatre in London, England, which they operated from 1983 to 1998.

The Toronto facilities were renovated, refurbished and, in the case of the Princess of Wales built, by the Mirvish family, providing the city with premiere theatre space where they have mounted outstanding productions such as Les Misérables, The Lion King, War Horse, The Wizard of Oz and many others. Mirvish Productions, a company founded by Mr. Mirvish in1986, has produced plays and musicals for these and other venues throughout Canada, on Broadway and in London’s West End. In Toronto alone, Mirvish Productions has presented over 500 productions.

Celebrating its 50th year in the theatre in 2013, the Mirvish family is widely credited with making Toronto a major centre of theatre.

David Mirvish is also the owner and operator of Honest Ed’s, the beloved discount emporium and Toronto landmark, which was opened by his father in 1948.

In 2012, David Mirvish announced plans for redeveloping his family’s extensive property on King Street West into two blocks of urban space that would preserve the flavour and strengths of the area’s heritage while stepping boldly into the future.

Collaborating with the world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, who grew up in this neighbourhood and whose only other project in his hometown is the beautiful redesign of the Art Gallery of Ontario (2008), the Mirvish/Gehry project will encompass three distinct and remarkable residential towers that will be unlike anything that has been built in Toronto. They will be grounded by stepped podiums that will house a large, new public gallery called the Mirvish Collection, a new campus for the OCAD University, planted terraces that will create a green silhouette overlooking King Street and an eclectic mix of cultural, commercial and retail organizations.

About Christopher Hume

Christopher Hume is the architecture critic and urban issues columnist of the Toronto Star. In 2009, he won a National Newspaper Award, Canada’s highest award in print journalism, for his columns. Since the 1980s, when he began working for the Star, he has received five NNA nominations. In 2009, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada gave Hume its President’s Award for Architectural Journalism. He has also received a certificate of appreciation from the Ontario Association of Architects.

His book, William James’ Toronto Views, won a Toronto Heritage Award in 2000 and in 2004 he received a Landscape Ontario communications award. NOW magazine named Hume Toronto’s best newspaper columnist in 2005 and Eye magazine did the same in 2006. In 2009, Hume hosted and wrote a one-hour special about Canadian cities for CBC TV’s flagship series, The Nature of Things.

He appears frequently on radio and television as a commentator on city issues. Hume was educated at the University of Toronto and Glendon College and lives in Toronto.

The Empire Club of Canada presents
“Legacy and the Public Realm: Dreaming with Frank Gehry”
David Mirvish in Conversation with Christopher Hume

Thursday, October 3, 2013
12:00 PM
Westin Harbour Castle, Metropolitan Ballroom,  1 Harbour Square

Tickets include lunch and are $80. Tables of 10 are $799.99.
Available at http://www.empireclub.org and by phone at 416-364-2878


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