TO Live, the city agency that manages Toronto’s three major civic theatres, is set to announce Tuesday a multimillion-dollar plan to renovate the George Weston Recital Hall in North York.
The project, slated to begin in the summer of 2026, marks the first significant refurbishment to the hall since it opened in 1993.
“The George Weston Recital Hall is, in my opinion, the best hall in Canada. But it needs a refresh,” said TO Live president and CEO Clyde Wagner in a phone interview last week, ahead of the public announcement. “The space hasn’t been touched since it opened and it’s a bit of a museum piece right now.”
The facelift will be funded by a $2.275-million donation from George Weston Limited, the Canadian holding company that owns Loblaw. The renovation will include seating upgrades, the restoration of the hall’s original flooring and new drapery to optimize acoustics.
TO Live did not offer an exact timeline of when the refurbishment is slated to finish. But Wagner anticipates the work will be completed by the end of 2026, though he acknowledged that “things can move.” He added that TO Live is working to minimize disruption to the hall’s existing tenants, which include the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
The 1,036-seat George Weston Recital Hall is the largest of four performance spaces housed in the Meridian Arts Centre. With its shoebox design, the venue is widely considered one of the best recital halls in North America.
Though originally intended as a venue for classical music performances, the hall’s programming has evolved in recent years to include more multidisciplinary events, including jazz and pop concerts. According to TO Live, the George Weston Recital Hall’s usage rate has been climbing in recent years, with the venue occupied for more than half of the days in 2024.
Wagner said the planned upgrades, including the addition of adjustable acoustic drapes, will help make the hall more versatile for the various groups that use it, be it a symphonic orchestra or a small chamber ensemble.
The upcoming renovation is one of several major capital projects that TO Live is to undertake the coming years. In December, city councillors approved an $81-million plan to repair the aging St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts in downtown Toronto, which is also operated by TO Live. Those repairs are set to unfold over the next 10 years, and will address accessibility concerns and ensure the building can meet the city’s net-zero emissions targets.
