.@DowntownYonge - AND MASSEY HALL LAUNCH PLAY THE PARKS ON JUNE 22

DOWNTOWN YONGE AND MASSEY HALL LAUNCH PLAY THE PARKS ON JUNE 22

TORONTO.....Back for a fourth season, the Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Area (DYBIA) presents its free Play the Parks summer concert series, filling Toronto’s parks and public spaces with music all summer long.

DYBIA is excited to partner this year with the iconic Massey Hall as curator of the series. Massey Hall has worked to ensure that this year’s line-up of musicians reflects Toronto’s diverse music scene, and provides a wide range of genres for all to enjoy, including performances by Os Tropies, Asiko Afrobeat Ensemble, The Soul Motivators, Pocket Concerts, Cairo and more.

“We are proud to continue providing opportunities for emerging artists to present their craft and for music lovers to enjoy a wide sample of what Toronto’s growing music scene has to offer,” says DYBIA Executive Director Mark Garner.

This year’s music series kicks off on Wednesday June 22, 2016 at 5:00pm with the Massey Hall Band, a 15-piece alternative big band devoted to reinventing, reinterpreting and re-energizing the great music connected to their namesake, performing live in Trinity Square Park.

“With each season Play the Parks builds momentum, supporting an environment for music creators and strengthening the foundation of our identity as a music city” Garner says.

For the 2016 series, Play the Parks can be found at four venues throughout the Downtown Yonge area: Trinity Square Park (on the west side of CF Toronto Eaton Centre); the courtyard behind College Park (College and Yonge); Mackenzie House museum (Dundas and Bond); and McGill Granby Parkette (Yonge and Gerrard).

“Massey Hall is thrilled to partner with the Downtown Yonge BIA to explore the personalities of Toronto’s downtown parks this summer, and bring the unique characteristics of these spaces to life with music,” says Rodrigo Fritz, Programming Manager at Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall. “Trinity Square will be a gathering place for danceable rhythms from across the Americas; McGill Granby Parkette will celebrate the spirit of summer and the global communities who ignite Toronto’s streets; College Park will be animated at lunchtime with funk, jazz and soul; and Mackenzie House will showcase classical-rooted music that reflects the way the genre and our Music City has evolved since the days of our first mayor, William Lyon Mackenzie.”

In addition to main sponsor DYBIA, generous funding from SOCAN has helped to make this year’s music series another success.

After the June 22, 2016 launch – which, like all Play the Parks events, is free to the public – 28 more performances will take place in June, July, August and September, with show times happening during the lunch hour, after work and on weekends.

More information at: www.downtownyonge.com/playtheparks