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Elaine Calder

@calderbennett.bsky.social
143 followers 48 following 1.5K posts

Retired. Used to manage arts organizations: orchestras, theatres and an opera company, in both Canada and the US. Working on my Italian, in part by visiting Venice once or twice a year.

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Doesn't seem to be gifted. It requires a sign in/subscription. Regrettably.
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Hundreds of people began to sing Gilles Vigneault's "Gens du Pays", the unofficial anthem of Québec. It was an incredibly moving moment. Later I heard from soprano Karina Gauvin that Vigneault was in a hall nearby, listening to the premiere of a song cycle based on his poetry. Only in Montréal! 2/2
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Tonight Gabriela Montero played Shostakovich with L'Orchestre Métropolitain. She came back for one of her famous improvised encores and asked the audience to suggest a theme for her by singing a song everyone would know. I think she was a bit surprised by the immediacy of the response. 1/2
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Terrific!
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Ah. Well, that makes sense. To me, but not your publisher! And especially not their marketing department.
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
You sure did. And if they did, they might have assumed it was the one focused on the Biennale.
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I love that this tiny - actually not so tiny - 19th century house has been preserved in Montréal. It's on Drummond St, south of Sherbrooke West, behind the Ritz Carlton.
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
And I'm back! My very non-student apartment in the McGill student ghetto, a block from where I lived in the late 60s. I'm here for a month to see friends, go to concerts, plays and galleries, and walk! Fall in Montréal is gorgeous, and right now the weather is perfect.
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Reposted by Elaine Calder
Cultural Heritage @culturalheritage.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
There needs to be Consumer Protection laws in Canada as well. AI chatbots for Customer Care for phone and internet are a nightmare. Hours are spent just trying to get past a bot. @telussupport.bsky.social @mark-carney.bsky.social @wadegrant.bsky.social
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
And what a view!
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Another new bookstore in Venice? Didn't Feltrinelli open only a few years ago? Does this mean tourists shop for books, because otherwise there seems to be a lot of bookshops for 47,000 residents.
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Mark Carney speaks of the oak tree at Ettersberg that Goethe loved, and how just over a hundred years later, the Buchenwald concentration camp was built around it. This makes me wonder if he has read Jeremy Eichler's TIME'S ECHO. The Prelude of this great book is titled "In the Shade of the Oak."
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Thank you so much, Caroline! I've just signed up for the online talk on October 5th on John Singer Sargent.
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Not quite. The house did vote 220 to 204, but as reported in the NYT: The House on Tuesday voted for a third time to direct President Trump to end the war in Iran or seek explicit authorization to continue it. Good, but not quite a direction to remove forces.
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Ha! The UK had it all and VOTED to give it all up. Ten years later, any number of Brexiters may be experiencing cognitive dissonance - mental discomfort when their actions and (subsequent) beliefs don't coincide.
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Take comfort in the fact that you've kept your real interests from the algorithm.
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
On the other hand, rain can ruin a harvest. In 1992 there were 17 consecutive weekends of rain in Niagara. I was running the Shaw Festival and it greatly boosted attendance, but when I asked Don Ziraldo (Inniskillen Winery) if insurance would cover losses he said no. Wineries have to self insure.
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
@pgjonesvenice.bsky.social, do you know how many people are waiting for a picture of you and Mimi snuggled up on the sofa?
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I just asked Google how much I should expect to pay for single tickets over the subscription rates at Teatro La Fenice, and got a detailed, logical reply - the first time I've found AI to be truly helpful.
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
I have no idea what you said about this but I'm sure it was right! They should have been arrested - and as @davidhewson.com says - they would have been if there were protesting an environmental concern.
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Yes, I loved it!
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
🤣
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
🤣
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
You're not staying in western Dorsoduro/Santa Marta this time?
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I sent this to my niece and she's ordered her copy! She's a fan. And thanks for posting this.
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Who gets to sit there?
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Venetian twig broom, photo by Jerry Ubysz, and Vietnamese coconut broom bought by me in Victoria, BC. (No tariff paid....)
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
This is as good as Dickens! Waiting for the next chapter.....
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
This was when I was managing Hartford Stage. People in the office had friends who worked in the towers.
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
I walked into the office, said a cheery "good morning!" and was met with "OMG. You don't know, do you?"
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
It was a great game! Glad to be there and thank you to Cooper Pacific for the great seats!
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Couldn't happen to a nicer person.
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Thanks Caroline. I just shared this with my "kids" (in their fifties) who skiied and biked in Norway recently, and they thanked me for sending it. They love Norway and Norwegians.
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Probably the work of Natalie Harp.
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
I bought this broom to sweep the leaves off my patio. It reminds me of the twig brooms used early in the morning by the street cleaners in Venice, but it's made of coconut and comes from Vietnam. There was a lovely note enclosed, thanking me for supporting their handiwork and their community.
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
And it looks like a happy one!
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Indeed. Now I'm trying to guess your 4th line. Strange as well?Wordle 1,896 4/6* ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜ ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
You're definitely living the good life; and in Venice, in August, a very smart life. Friends like @davidhewson.com and @robinsaikia.bsky.social have great suggestions that are off the tourist-beaten path. I have two copies of Robin's book to give to friends over the next couple of weeks.
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
It's the ability to commit fully to your dreams and face challenges with unwavering resolve. Mark Carney has called on us to summon our inner sisu. I think it's fitting that he's a good friend of Finland's prime minister, Petteri Orpo. 3/3
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Sisu is a Finnish word that means inner strength, perseverance, and determination. It can also be translated as grit, bravery, resilience, and hardiness. It’s not just momentary courage, but the ability to sustain courage, hour after hour and day after day. 2/n
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
In April 2025 my American son-in-law was in a group that skiied 800 km across the Arctic, from the border of Finland and Russia to the Norwegian coastal town of Narvik. At the end of the trip he wrote about the Finnish concept of sisu: 1/n
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Spectacular!
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
You definitely look sceptical!
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
If a time comes when Mark Carney tells us it's in Canada's best interest to buy American wine and liquor, I'll purchase a bottle of bourbon and some Oregon pinot noirs. Until then, I don't care what American products are on the shelf at BC Liquor, because I'm not buying them.
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Once again no yellow squares - although I'm not sure this means anything...... Wordle 1,887 5/6* ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
@caroline-venezia.bsky.social, you may find this article by David Runciman interesting. I certainly did. www.newstatesman.com/cover-story/...
newstatesman.com
A dream of Cambridge
The university’s place in the public imagination is as illusory as Jason Arday’s academic credentials
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Ah. Thank you.
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
What are those green bits?
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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
It was one of Those, but I got there in plenty of time. Wordle 1,885 4/6* ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜ ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟨🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
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