Lectures. Talks. Ideas.
Dear Friends,
As we enter the final weeks of 2025, we’re feeling very grateful for everything you’ve done to support The Speakers Annex in our first year at the Miles Nadal JCC.
We hope you get some well-deserved R&R over the holiday season and we can’t wait to host you next month for our next two exciting courses:
“The World’s Great Music Cities and the Artists They Inspired” with Dr. Andrew Scott; Tuesdays, January 20-February 24. Sign up HERE and see our full course syllabus HERE.
“Passion and Precision: The History of Ballet” with the National Ballet’s Natasha Frid Finlay and guest speaker Veronica Tennant; Wednesdays, January 28-March 4. Sign up HERE and check out our course syllabus HERE.
But now for something fun to close out a great first year! Inspired by the warm response to our “Summer Reading Guide,” we’ve asked our Speakers Annex lecturers and friends to suggest some good books to curl up with on the frosty nights ahead. The result is our new “Speakers Annex Winter Reading Guide,” which you can see HERE.
We’re especially thrilled to feature some picks from Eleanor Wachtel, the legendary host of CBC’s Writers & Company and a friend of The Speakers Annex. Eleanor’s wonderful program, featuring interviews with the world’s leading writers, is a constant source of ideas for our Speakers Annex programs and the show’s episode archive, which is available HERE, is also an excellent place to discover your next great read.
As always, please contact me ([email protected]) and our Help Desk ([email protected]) with any registration questions and please scroll below for more interesting events with our MNjcc partners and other friends around the city.
Wishing you all a restful and restorative holiday season—we’ll see you in the New Year!
Will Di Novi
Host and Organizer
The Speakers Annex
The Speakers Annex is proud to be presented in partnership with
OUR EXCITING NEW WINTER COURSES!
Tuesdays, January 20-February 24
10:30 AM-12 PM
MNjcc Members: $99
Non-Members: $119
| Musical Meccas: The World’s Great Music Cities and the Artists They Inspired
He's back! After rave reviews for his recent series on history’s greatest songs, Dr. Andrew Scott returns with this fun new course on the musical icons of the past century and the cities that inspired them.
From Django Reinhardt’s Paris at the apex of the Jazz Age to the sun-drenched LA landscapes that gave the world the Beach Boys; from London’s mods and rockers at the height of the Swinging Sixties to Glenn Gould’s intimate bond with his hometown of Toronto, we’ll explore how the cultural landscapes within these wonderful cities shaped the careers and music of the century’s musical giants.
Click HERE for the full course schedule and descriptions of each of the six sessions. |
Wednesdays, January 28-March 4
10:30 AM-12 PM
MNjcc Members: $99
Non-Members: $119
| Passion and Precision: The History of Ballet
Take a dazzling journey through the history of ballet with Natasha Frid Finlay, a dance notator and popular pre-show speaker with The National Ballet of Canada.
From ballet’s origins in the royal courts of Europe to the first iconic productions of Swan Lake and Giselle to 20th century icons like Rudolph Nureyev and Karen Kain, Natasha will pull back the curtain on this wonderful art form, before closing the series with a very special treat: an onstage conversation with the great Veronica Tennant, former Prima Ballerina with The National Ballet of Canada and an inspiration to generations of dance-artists.
Click HERE for the full course schedule and descriptions of each of the six sessions. |
MNjcc Members: $149
Non-Members: $179
| All-Access Season Pass!
Interested in attending both of our winter programs?
Then consider signing up for this all-access season pass.
Receive unlimited access to each of our two programs at a significant discount! |
SOME COOL EVENTS FROM OUR PARTNERS
| International Holocaust Remembrance Day Film Screening
In November 1940, days after the Nazis sealed 450,000 Jews in Poland’s Warsaw Ghetto, a secret band of journalists, scholars and community leaders decided to fight back. Under the code name Oyneg Shabes, this clandestine group of resistance fighters vowed to defeat Nazi lies and propaganda - not with guns or fists, but with pen and paper. Experience the award-winning documentary Who Will Write our History Thursday January 29, 1:00-3:00pm.
Presented in partnership with Good Docs.
Join us in the Al Green Theatre or register to receive a link you can watch at home. Questions? Email [email protected].
REGISTER HERE.
|
| Film Critic Adam Nayman Returns Monday January 12!
The passing of Hollywood icon Robert Redford prompted reflection on his impact - not only as a movie star, but also as a director, producer, Sundance Festival founder, and behind-the-scenes power broker. Learn about actors who leveraged their stardom to become ‘multi-hyphenate’ moviemakers: Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, Warren Beatty, Jodie Foster, Clint Eastwood, Diane Keaton … and more! Presented in partnership with the Toronto Film Society.
Mondays: January 12 - February 9, 1:00-2:30pm. Join us in the Al Green Theatre, on Zoom simulcast, or register to receive the recordings!
Questions? Email [email protected].
Register HERE. |
| Exciting Upcoming Events at the RCM!
Our friends at the Royal Conservatory of Music are kicking off 2026 in style with two exciting events.
On January 18 at 3 PM join visionary Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero (pictured) for a program exploring the westward migration of Eastern European composers to Los Angeles for work in the film industry. The concert will feature the classical improvisations for which Montero is famous, this time accompanying Charlie Chaplin’s film The Immigrant. Learn more and sign up here.
Then, on Thursday January 22 at 7 PM, join virtuoso violinist, Berklee College of Music alumnus, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Kishi Bashi as he makes his Koerner Hall debut. Learn more and sign up here. |
| Author Talk and Lunch at Heliconian Hall!
Have you ever wondered about the old wooden building at 35 Hazelton Avenue in the heart of Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood?
Come to Heliconian Hall on Tuesday, January 20, 2026 from noon to 3 pm for lunch and an author talk on Cello Notes: Music and the Urgency of Time, a memoir by psychoanalyst and cellist Mavis Himes. The memoir is about dreaming big and pursuing one’s goals at any age, and has been described as a “must-read” for anyone taking up or getting back to music later in life.
Click here to learn more and register! |
| New Dance Memoir From Dance Collection Danse
Dance Collection Danse is is a national arts organization that safeguards Canada’s dance archives and artifacts.
Dance enthusiasts in our audience may be interested in checking a new memoir they recently published by Canadian choreographer Allen Kaeja called I Found My Dance in a Bomb Shelter. It’s a moving collection of stories exploring Kaeja’s journey of discovery as an artist, weaving in a thread of intergenerational trauma as the son of a Holocaust survivor.
You can learn more and get your copy HERE. |
| Visit and Enjoy the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto
The Arts & Letters Club is a social club for people active or interested in literature and the arts. Located in its historic Toronto building at 14 Elm Street, the Club hosts literary talks, stage productions, musical performances, painting sessions and more. The Club’s lounge and bar is open to visitors every Friday from 4 pm to 7 pm. Beginning in September, the Club will be offering the Speakers Annex community an opportunity to sample its fun events.
If you are interested in learning more, please email Martin Jones at [email protected]. For more information on the Club, please visit www.artsandlettersclub.ca. |
SPEAKERS ANNEX READING GUIDES
In June, I asked some of our favourite Speakers Annex contributors to share a few books that we all might enjoy over the summer months. The result was our first ever “Summer Reading Guide,” which you can see HERE.
After the great response to that guide, we now return with a new “Winter Reading Guide,” which you can read HERE. We’re proud to present this edition in partnership with friend-of-The Speakers Annex Eleanor Wachtel, the host of CBC’s Writers & Company, who has offered her own list of wonderful reading suggestions!
If you’ve read anything lately that totally knocked your socks off, please email me at [email protected]. I’d love to add it to the list for others to enjoy!
HELPFUL LINKS AND MORE!
For registration assistance, please contact the MNjcc customer support team at 416-924-6211 x0 or email [email protected]. You can also refer to this detailed, step-by-step registration guide.
Email me about our fall and winter programs, or anything else on your mind, at [email protected]. I always love to hear from you!
Consult this FAQ Help Sheet for answers to common questions about our events.
Thank you so much again!
