Complaints Choir
Originally conceived by Tallervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta- Kalleinen (Finland)
Week of March 21-26, 2011 | FREE | Location TBA
Performances
Here's where you can catch some "pop up" performances of the Toronto Complaints Choir! Brought to you by World Stage at Harbourfront Centre.
| Date | Time | Location |
| Tuesday, March 22, 2011 | 12pm-1pm | St. Lawrence Market |
| Wednesday, March 23, 2011 | 6:45pm-8pm | AGO (Walker Court) |
| Thursday, March 24, 2011 | 6:30pm-8pm | The Distillery District |
| Saturday, March 26, 2011 | 3:15pm-3:45pm | The boardwalk just south of Harbourfront Centre |
YOUR COMPLAINTS Move your mouse over the complaints to pause
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Why do people invite me into their homes ask me to take off my shoes and make my feet cold and ruin my outfit?
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Excessive salt on the roads.
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Return phone number messages spoken so quickly they must be listened to again and again.
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Why on earth do people not think a coalition government is a good idea?
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Why can I never find the matching sock?
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Sound of people eating. Shhh! already. Just because they eat loud in commercials, hold in your crunch. Pleeze.
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People who don't understand how sidewalks work. Do we need to paint lanes?
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As I get older, I get more invisible; I'm not dead yet people!
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People blowing their nose or spitting onto the sidewalk. Let's see a little dignity and show some respect.
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I don't know what to do when people ask for money on the street.
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Why do only married men make a pass at me?
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I hate what Facebook has done to my generation.
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I hate when people act as if, because I am required to offer good customer service, they have the right to be rude and act like jerks.
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Winter SUCKS!!!!
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I feel like I've waited half my life for the College streetcar.
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My sisters judge my life and think they know everything!
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I hate it when people throw cigarette butts out their window.
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People who don't think the rules apply to them.
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Get over yourselves, downtowners.
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I can't find a cute, single, straight Jewish boy to save my life!
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Why don't the people I love, love me back?
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Why can't I have a dream career, home, life, partner?
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I hate that I had to wait in line for over an hour to vote in the last election and Rob Ford still won.
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Crappy jazz music in Starbucks.
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My 14-month wait for permanent residency!
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Jersey Shore and Glee.
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The lack of kindness, compassion or just basic human respect for each other!
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The world has too many boundaries.
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Loud breathers in yoga: "Look at me, I’m in the zone."
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I hate seeing you, and not being able to say I love you.
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My parents say they are going for therapy but they don't.
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My arches are falling.
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I hate it when I realize that I've been an asshole.
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The Las Vegas lighting on the CN Tower. This is not Las Vegas.
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The new Radiohead album.
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I wish girls would stop wearing leggings as pants, because they're not!
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I made love, not war, and now it hurts when I pee.
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Uggs are hideous and 90% of women at my university wear them.
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I hate it that my husband loves golf so much.
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Like billions of Canadian I have no family doctor.
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I can never find a ripe avocado.
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My parrot wanted to be on my shoulder as I tried to get dressed for work.
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Crocs.
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Winter is too long, weekends are too short.
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People who wear fur.
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When radio host repeat their name/name of station/show/a gazillion times.
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Slow walkers!
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My husband and son eat all of the cookies.
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I'm firmly in the friend zone. I hate the friend zone. I want to be in the bed zone.
Hey Toronto! Do you have something to say?
World Stage wants to hear from you. We're creating a Complaints Choir and we want YOU to be a part of it!
What's a Complaints Choir?
Complaints Choir is a growing, global movement that started in Birmingham, UK (via Helsinki) that gives a musical platform for people to vent their complaints and have those complaints turned into a song. Complaints can range from your noisy neighbours to global warming and beyond. The more inventive, the better!
How does it work?
Once the World Stage team has received everyone's complaints, our resident composer and lyricist, will create a song using the complaints as lyrics. From there, we'll form a choir to rehearse and sing this entirely new and unique piece of music. You don't have to be a professional singer to join in. The music is created so that anyone can take part. And if you really don't want to sing, you can come and watch as your complaints ring from the rooftops.
By submitting your written complaint, you waive all rights to Harbourfront Centre to use, not use and/or edit your complaint for the Complaints Choir's song, including but not limited to live and/or recorded performances. There will be no monetary compensation and/or accreditation for any complaint submitted, used, not used and/or edited by Harbourfront Centre.
By entering your complaint, you agree to the above terms and conditions.
"...a worldwide phenomenon..."
-Time Out Chicago
About the company
The Complaints Choir got started during a winter day walk of Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen in Helsinki. Perhaps it was due to the coldness of the day that they ended up discussing the possibility of transforming the huge energy people put into complaining into something else. Perhaps not directly into heat – but into something powerful anyway.
After the first Complaints Choir in Birmingham, Kalleinen and Kochta-Kalleinen have facilitated Complaints Choir workshops in Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg, Chicago, Singapore and Copenhagen. Meanwhile several Complaints Choirs have been initiated by other people around the world. It started with the Poikkilaakso Complaints Choir formed at a school near Helsinki by Matti Salo and Elisa Hilli, the Bodø Complaints Choir, organized by Kari Koksvik and Mikael Rönnberg and the Pittsburgh Complaints Choir, initiated by Jenn and Ray Strobel.
About Bryce Kulak
An award-winning composer, Kulak has performed with symphony orchestras and in theatrical world premieres. Often compared to the great songwriters of the original cabaret era, Kulak carries the torch of this compelling genre into the new century.
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