Monthly Archives: October 2022

Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas—In Concert with the TSO

Posted on October 29, 2022 by barczablog

Tonight Erika and I watched The Nightmare Before Christmas shown with the Toronto Symphony playing the score live, conducted by Sarah Hicks at Roy Thomson Hall. As with the 100 Years of Film Music concert we attended earlier this week, … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Architecture & Design, Cinema, video & DVDs, Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged Back to the Future, Catherine O'Hara, Chris Sarandon, Danny Elfman, Gustav Mahler, Kim Novak, Kurt Weill, Paul Reubens, Ratatouille, TIFF, Tim Burton, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Vertigo | Leave a comment

100 Years of Epic Film Scores from the TSO

Posted on October 26, 2022 by barczablog

The Toronto Symphony program “100 Years of Epic Film Scores” is a kind of history lesson, while celebrating the role music has played in film for over a century. The significance of the century comes from it being TSO’s 100th … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Reviews | Tagged Alan Silvestri, Bernard Herrmann, Elmer Bernstein, Ennio Morricone, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, film music, Hans Zimmer, Jerry Goldsmith, Klaus Badelt, Maurice Jarre, Max Steiner, Michael Giacchino, Miklos Rozsa, Nino Rota, Rachel Portman, Steven Reineke, Toronto Symphony Orchestra | Leave a comment

Another look at Alden’s Dutchman, a first look at Harold Wilson

Posted on October 24, 2022 by barczablog

Today’s matinee was the Canadian Opera Company’s closing performance of The Flying Dutchman, complete with a singer making his debut. The American bass Harold Wilson stepped in for an indisposed Franz-Josef Selig in the role of Daland. When I looked … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal ruminations & essays | Tagged Canadian Opera Company, Christopher Alden, Franz-Josef Selig, Harold Wilson, Johannes Debus, Marjorie Owens, Metropolitan Opera, Miles Mykkanen, Richard Wagner, The Flying Dutchman | 4 Comments

Orpheus in the Underworld

Posted on October 22, 2022 by barczablog

Toronto Operetta Theatre opened their production of Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld tonight, directed & designed by Guillermo Silva-Marin, and the familiar music conducted by Larry Beckwith. In a month when the opera stages are showing two divas murdered by … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Reviews | Tagged Christoph Willibald Gluck, Gregory Finney, Guillermo Silva-Marin, Jacques Offenbach, Orpheus in the Underworld, River Guard, Toronto Operetta Theatre, Vania Chan | Leave a comment

Yuja Wang, Magnus Lindberg, Anton Bruckner and the TSO

Posted on October 21, 2022 by barczablog

As we tentatively poke our heads out, looking for signs that normal life has resumed after the pandemic, concerts like tonight’s from the Toronto Symphony affirm relationships & collaboration, the latest in a series of celebratory moments in the orchestra’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged Anton Bruckner, Gustavo Gimeno, Magnus Lindberg, Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Yuja Wang | Leave a comment

The tenth anniversary ELIZABETH KREHM MEMORIAL CONCERT

Posted on October 17, 2022 by barczablog

Join us for an evening of music in celebration of Elizabeth Krehm’s life and in support of St Michael’s Hospital ICU. Come Closer: Songs on Texts by Elizabeth Krehm – Ryan TrewSymphony no. 4 “Italian” – Felix Mendelssohn Evan Mitchell, … Continue reading →

Posted in Press Releases and Announcements | Leave a comment

Darkly Comic Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

Posted on October 17, 2022 by barczablog

I’ve just come from the matinee of Rajiv Joseph’s play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, presented by Crow’s Theatre in co-production with Modern Times Stage Company. The title tells you the basic premise, a tiger is caged in a … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Reviews, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged Ahmed Moneka, Ali Kazmi, Andrew Chown, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Christopher Allen, Crow’s Theatre, John Gzowski, Kristen Thomson, Lorenzo Savoini, Mahsa Ershadifar, Modern Times Stage Company, Rajiv Joseph, Rouvan Silogix, Sara Jaffri | 1 Comment

COC Carmen Opens

Posted on October 15, 2022 by barczablog

I saw and heard opening night of the Canadian Opera Company’s Carmen tonight at the Four Seasons Centre, a revival of Joel Ivany’s 2016 production. It’s a wonderful take on a well-known work with a very original approach to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Reviews | Tagged Alain Coulombe, Canadian Opera Company, Carmen, Flying Dutchman, Four Seasons Centre, Georges Bizet, Jacques Lacombe, J’Nai Bridges, Joel Ivany, Joyce El-Khoury, Lucas Meachem, Marcelo Puente | Leave a comment

Gimeno prepares the taste-buds for Bronfman’s Beethoven

Posted on October 13, 2022 by barczablog

It was a unique Toronto Symphony concert. Conductor Gustavo Gimeno said he had never conducted six items on a program before. It was pretty radical for me too, although I was fortunate. I noticed the unorthodox program and wrote about … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal ruminations & essays | Tagged Atmosphères, Daniel Barenboim, Franz Josef Haydn, Gustavo Gimeno, Gyorgy Ligeti, Lohengrin, Ludwig van Beethoven, Otto Klemperer, Richard Wagner, Roy Thomson Hall, sturm und drang, subito con forza, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Unsuk Chin, Yefim Bronfman | 1 Comment

Ernesto and Luciano: similar yet different

Posted on October 8, 2022 by barczablog

It was forty years ago. I was in New York on my honeymoon, seeking a ticket to see the Metropolitan Opera (even a scalper if necessary). But I found tickets at the box office, 7th row (if my memory doesn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Press Releases and Announcements | Tagged Ernesto Ramirez, Luciano Pavarotti, Metropolitan Opera, Opera by Request, Roberto Devereux | Leave a comment