About

This unforgettable performance comes to Toronto for one night only after sold out stops in New York, Sydney, London, Berlin, and many more.

How do two people at the extremes of good and evil find solace in the same aria? East West Street, based on the award-winning book by human rights lawyer Phillipe Sands (Penguin Random House Canada), blends the glorious voice of Metropolitan Opera star Laurent Naouri, the music of Bach, Rachmaninoff, Leonard Cohen and more, with spellbinding narration by Sands and the French soprano Natalie Dessay. 

Included in TIFA 2026 Festival Passes, on sale August 13, 2026; single tickets available September 3, 2026.

East West Street

A profound, important book, a moving personal detective story and an uncovering of secret pasts, set in Europe’s center, the city of bright colors—Lviv, Ukraine, dividing east from west, north from south, in what had been the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A book that explores the development of the world-changing legal concepts of “genocide” and “crimes against humanity” that came about as a result of the unprecedented atrocities of Hitler’s Third Reich. It is also a spellbinding family memoir, as the author traces the mysterious story of his grandfather as he maneuvered through Europe in the face of Nazi atrocities. This is “a monumental achievement ...

Read more about East West Street

Published by Penguin Random House Canada

Buy from

Buy from publisher

Philippe Sands

Philippe Sands is professor of law at the University of London, the Samuel Pisar Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School, and the author of East West Street. He is a frequent commentator on CNN and the BBC World Service, and a litigator before international courts.

Read more about Philippe Sands