DAYTIME
Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Its participants are known to be exquisite at stalking, but it is all perfectly proper and legal, rest assured. A long-running competition gathers the year’s best in wildlife photography, with an insistence on impeccable ethical standards when it comes to capturing nature’s glory and fragility. With its intimate animal portraits and atmospheric landscapes, this exhibition is worth going animal over.
To March 20, 2016. $17 to $24. Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park, 416-586-8000 or rom.on.ca.
NIGHTTIME
Unwrapped
The holidays are important for showing us that happiness is impossible and that the true spirit of Christmas rests in relentless shopping and forced sociability. Or at least that’s what the merrymakers at Second City would have us believe. A new satirical program of sketch comedy aims to deck the halls with boughs of jolly – fa la la la la, ha ha ha ha.
To Jan. 4. $25 to $32. Second City, 51 Mercer St., 416-343-0011 or secondcity.com.
FESTIVALS
CineIran Festival of Toronto
While photographs by the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami are showing at the Aga Khan Museum, the place to see actual Iranian films is at this first-time event of discussion and English-subtitled screenings. The program – covering the type of art-house fare and domestic box-office winners not usually shown to Toronto audiences – includes What’s the Time in Your World? (Sunday, 9:30 p.m.) an unhurried tale of a woman’s return to a hometown she barely recalls.
To Nov. 29. $9 to $14. TIFF Bell Lightbox, 350 King St. W., 416-599-8433 or www.cift.ca.
ONE TIME ONLY
Sondra Radvanovsky
A glammy spread in Vanity Fair recently referred to her as the “commanding American soprano,” but these days Sondra Radvanovsky receives her mail and hangs her laundry at a Toronto address. It’s all the better for local fans, and all the easier for the Verdi specialist and high-voltage virtuoso to clear her busy operatic schedule for a recital here of art songs by Bellini, Liszt, Strauss and Barber, with a selection of arias too.
Dec. 4, 8 p.m. $55 to $125. Koerner Hall, 273 Bloor St. W., 416-408-0208 or performance.rcmusic.ca.
FOR THE KIDS
Cavalcade of Lights
The start of the holiday season traditionally coincides with the Toronto Maple Leafs being mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, but the talent-challenged squad is showing signs of life lately. So, the official signal for ho-ho time this year will have to involve the illumination of the city’s Christmas tree, accompanied by fireworks, circus acts, music (Sloan and Crystal Shawanda) and a skating party on something other than thin ice.
Nov. 28, 6 p.m. Free. Nathan Phillips Square, 100 Queen St. W., toronto.ca.