Author Archives: barczablog

Digging into cinematic culture with Maria Dueñas, Gustavo Gimeno & the Toronto Symphony

Posted on June 7, 2026 by barczablog

In a week when every item in the Toronto Symphony’s concert program has a connection to film, it was amazing to see such a remarkable variety, the many different ways music and movies can be connected. And the results were … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Music and musicology, Reviews, University life | Tagged 2001: A Space Odyssey, Bekah Simms, Beneath the Twelve Mile Reef, Bernard Herrmann, cinema, classical-music, Dennis Christopher, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Fahrenheit 451, Felix Mendelssohn, film music, Gustavo Gimeno, Gyorgy Ligeti, Hollywood Sound, John Mauceri, John Williams, leit-motiv, Maria Dueñas, Masterworks, Max Steiner, Nostalgie, Richard Wagner, Rodney Dangerfield, Samy Moussa, Steven Reineke, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Toronto Symphony | Leave a comment

Bringing the first Jamaican oratorio to life in Toronto: an interview with organist Joshua Duncan Lee

Posted on June 6, 2026 by barczablog

As a follower of Apocryphonia, I heard about the concert presenting excerpts from Samuel Felsted’s Jonah, coming this Friday June 12th at 7:30 pm, at Christ Church, Deer Park. The work is significant not just as the first oratorio composed … Continue reading →

Posted in Interviews, Music and musicology, University life | Tagged Alexander Cappellazzo, Apocryphonia, Craig Broomfield, Dr. Patricia Wright, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Jonah, Joseph Bologne, Joshua Duncan Lee, Joyce Duncan, Kevin Komisaruk, Metropolitan United Church, Noel Da Costa, organ, Paul Williamson, Rashaan Allwood, Samuel Felsted, Ted Runcie, Wayne C. Vance, West Indies | Leave a comment

Virtuoso Shunske Sato takes Tafelmusik to the next level with Beethoven & Bologne

Posted on June 1, 2026 by barczablog

Descending the stairs after the final Tafelmusik concert of the season at Koerner Hall, walking slowly behind older audience members, a woman beside me glanced over, eyes glowing, wanting to share her experience. She had to talk. And so we … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged Bruno Weil, classical-music, Eroica, François-Joseph Gossec, Jakob Lehmann, Joseph Bologne, JS Bach, Koerner Hall, Ludwig van Beethoven, Mandle Philharmonic, orchestral, PastForward Ensemble, Pride and Prejudice, Rachel Podger, Shunske Sato, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra | Leave a comment

Last Werther to end an era

Posted on May 25, 2026 by barczablog

The matinee of Werther Saturday May 23rd to end the current Canadian Opera Company Spring Season was not without a bit of ceremony. At the end of the curtain call, Music Director Johannes Debus brought out a microphone and began … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal ruminations & essays | Tagged Alex Hetherington, Alexander Hajek, Andreas Schager, Canadian, Canadian Opera Company, Christine Goerke, Crow's Theatre, David Ferguson, Douglas Stewart, Ernesto Ramirez, Holly Chaplin, Ian Derrer, Jules Massenet, Krisztina Szabo, Mandle Phil, Mark Rogers, Michael Colvin, Michael Patrick Albano, Paolo Santalucia, Robert Lepage, Robert Pomakov, Russell Thomas, Stefan Vinke, Victoria Karkacheva | 2 Comments

Mandle Philharmonic plays Mahler 2nd

Posted on May 23, 2026 by barczablog

I have to make comparisons. Even the most sympathetic critic observes and then contextualizes, by framing those observations in comparison to others. On Friday May 22nd Mandle Cheung conducted his orchestra, the Mandle Philharmonic, in a performance of Gustav Mahler’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged Alex Hetherington, Astrid Varnay, Billy Bishop, Bruno Walter, Carl Morey, classical-music, FIFA, George Weston Recital Hall, Gustav Mahler, Herbert von Karajan, Lesley Bouza, Mandle Cheung, Mandle Phil, Mandle Philharmonic, music, Neil Crory, orchestra, Otto Klemperer, RBC Amphitheatre, Resurrection Symphony, Toronto Symphony, TSO, Urlicht | 3 Comments

Multidimensional Michael Patrick Albano: an interview

Posted on May 20, 2026 by barczablog

Michael Patrick Albano is Associate Professor Emeritus with the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto, where you can see his bio and this photo: but that only tells you part of the story. Michael is resident Stage Director of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Interviews, Opera, University life | Tagged Canadian Children's Opera Company, Canadian Opera Company, Cecilia Livingston, Constance Fisher Craig, Fall River, Herman Geiger-Torel, Macmillan Theatre, Michael Patrick Albano, Sandra Horst, Tapestry Opera, the legend of Lizzie Borden, University of Toronto, writing | 2 Comments

Five composers in two days? If it’s Sunday it must be bel canto romance

Posted on May 19, 2026 by barczablog

I feel like an operatic sausage. I’m stuffed a lot into this post, having jammed too much opera into my head in a brief period of time. Talk about contrast! Saturday was the closing performance of the Lepage Bluebeard-Erwartung double … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Reviews | Tagged Ernesto Ramirez, Gaetano Donizetti, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Holly Chaplin, I capuletti e Montecchi, Joel Ricci, L'elisir d'amore, La boheme, La Traviata, Macbeth, Mamma Mia, Narmina Afandiyeva, Opera by Request, Robert Lepage | 2 Comments

Co-existing worlds of Epic Wagnerian Toronto Symphony

Posted on May 15, 2026 by barczablog

Thursday night the Toronto Symphony showed us they could blend Western & non-Western cultural traditions. When Gustavo Gimeno spoke in his program note of the imminent arrival of thousands from abroad into our city for the FIFA matches, he spoke … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged Abel Selaocoe, Bernard Herrmann, classical-music, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Gustavo Gimeno, improvisation, Jessie Montgomery, Lorin Maazel, Richard Wagner, Ring Without Words, Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto Symphony | Leave a comment

Interviewing Don Giovanni’s women

Posted on May 13, 2026 by barczablog

On May 22nd the new Benevolence Opera Project, who present opera both as entertainment and as a platform for social engagement collaborate with Redwood Theatre to present Don Giovanni in a benefit supporting Redwood Women’s Shelter. I asked Holly Chaplin … Continue reading →

Posted in Interviews, Opera, Press Releases and Announcements | Tagged #metoo, Alexander Hajek, Andrew Tees, Benevolence Opera Project, Brahm Goldhamer, Cameron Mazzei, Don Giovanni, Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, Holly Chaplin, James Coole-Stevenson, Kathryn Rose Johnston, Lorenzo Da Ponte, Luke Noftall, Mary Ferrari, music, Redwood Theatre, Redwood Women’s Shelter, Ryan Hofman, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Zerlina | Leave a comment

Witnessing the birth of romanticism with young Werther

Posted on May 10, 2026 by barczablog

Excuse me as I gush. I love the new Canadian Opera Company production of Werther, featuring some of the best singing we’ve heard in years. I want people to come see this opera, so that the COC decides to do … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Opera, Reviews | Tagged Alain Coulombe, Alain Gauthier, Ann Cooper Gay, Ben Wallace, Canadian Opera Company, Emma Pennell, Four Seasons Centre, Johannes Debus, Jules Massenet, Kenneth Baker, Michael Colvin, Robert Pomakov, Russell Thomas, stuart hamilton, Victoria Karkacheva | 4 Comments