All of this has an impact on the culture in our lives: innovation and novelty become the driving forces. The qualities of tradition and experience and technical skill seem to have become secondary. Composers, for example, almost have to reinvent themselves for each composition, for fear of being accused of repeating themselves! No more the genius of Haydn, who wrote 104 symphonies in a broadly consistent style and language: he would probably be criticized today for not exploring a more diverse and exploratory style, even though each one of his mature symphonies display a striking originality within the conventional musical language of the day.

Artists today have a much harder task in being original –there is so much art out there. There are so many artists. The cultural languages of the world are available on your desktop. There is so much art of past generations. How can one possibly find anything new to say?

No wonder so many are turning towards technology in an attempt to create a new language or to find a new voice. It instantly empowers the aspiring artist in a way traditional artistic skills never could. It feels new and it’s easily communicable. But not many artists yet seem to me to be in control of the technology – rather the technology often obscures the artistic idea and covers for lack of original thought.

This year’s Luminato contains a number of artists using new techniques involving technology. We believe them to be the “genuine article”, each with something to say in an original way – Laurie Anderson, Marie Brassard, Mikel Rouse, David Michalek and others.

We’re sure that Toronto audiences will relish their work and stay with it: demands our attention in a way that the instant gratification of some new art does not. But let’s talk about it.

Graham Sheffield is the highly successful Artistic Director at London’s Barbican Centre. Since 1995, Sheffield has transformed the Centre’s program from a classical receiving house into one of the most innovative and diverse presenting and producing arts centres in the world with, encompassing programming across the entire spectrum: music, dance, theatre, film and visual arts.