Monthly Archives: November 2015

VOCALIS: a new series at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto

Posted on November 28, 2015 by barczablog

VOCALIS A new series of four concerts featuring the students of the Masters and DMA Voice programs, the Collaborative Piano program as well as students from the Instrumental program at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. This program is … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Press Releases and Announcements, University life | Leave a comment

Two Peters and The Wolf, with a little help from Rick Mercer

Posted on November 27, 2015 by barczablog

Over $50,000 was raised at the first Toronto Symphony benefit for Sick Kids Hospital, likely to be an annual affair. The TSO put on a brilliant show.  There were two Peters, both the fictional one in the Prokofiev story and … Continue reading →

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OSM: was it good for you?

Posted on November 26, 2015 by barczablog

I could use technical jargon, I could be very polite, OR I can simply tell the story as my viscera understood it. L’Orchestra Symphonique de Montréal—aka “OSM”—came to Toronto led by their music director Kent Nagano to play at Roy … Continue reading →

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10 questions for James Gilchrist

Posted on November 23, 2015 by barczablog

Here is the “informal biography” from James Gilchrist’s website, and offers a much better portrait than anything I could attempt. At the age of eight I came home from school one day and informed my parents that I was now in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Interviews, Music and musicology | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

High Def Lulu: Walmart Opera?

Posted on November 21, 2015 by barczablog

An irritated blast I sent to Facebook is the basis for this commentary (I don’t think it’s fair to call it a review), which is really more a series of speculative questions than answers. At one point in Saturday Nov … Continue reading →

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Tap: Ex METALLURGY: Visigoths in the Cathedral

Posted on November 20, 2015 by barczablog

While all roads may once have led to Rome, in the Canadian opera world, all roads seem to begin with Tapestry and artistic director Michael Hidetoshi Mori, whose visionary ideas are like seeds sown onto the blank staff paper of … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

CanStage / Soundstreams Julie: so old yet so new

Posted on November 18, 2015 by barczablog

Tonight I saw the North American debut of Philippe Boesmans’ opera Julie in a joint production of Soundstreams and Canadian Stage, at the Bluma Appel Theatre, a triumphant opening in front of a full house.  You might want to attribute … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Reviews | Tagged , | 2 Comments

10 questions for Peter Oundjian

Posted on November 14, 2015 by barczablog

A dynamic presence in the conducting world, Toronto-born conductor Peter Oundjian is renowned for his probing musicality, collaborative spirit, and engaging personality. Oundjian’s appointment as Music Director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) in 2004 reinvigorated the Orchestra with numerous … Continue reading →

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Soup Can HERETIC: not the usual martyr

Posted on November 14, 2015 by barczablog

Tonight I watched the latest version of HERETIC, Sarah Thorpe’s latest version of her play with the sub-title ”A Modern Retelling of the Story of Joan of Arc“. I was aware of her objective, to give an old story a … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Mahler’s decade

Posted on November 13, 2015 by barczablog

Michael Sanderling led the Toronto Symphony in a program of works from the first decade of the twentieth century featuring soprano Simone Osborne. We heard a diverse assortment of musical styles represented even though the works have a few things … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged , , | 1 Comment