Monthly Archives: September 2024

Picture this: challenging showcase as TSO season-opening concert

Posted on September 29, 2024 by barczablog

The concert was titled “Pictures at an Exhibition.” Roy Thomson Hall was full Saturday night for a fun evening at the Toronto Symphony. It was a showcase for the TSO. Music Director Gustavo Gimeno’s program notes suggest that he was … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged Carlos Simon, Felix Mendelssohn, Gustavo Gimeno, Jan Lisiecki, Jonathan Crow, Joseph Johnson, Ludwig van Beethoven, Mark Williams, Maurice Ravel, Modeste Mussorsky, Roy Thompson Hall, Sergei Gorchakov, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, TSO, Wake Up! | 4 Comments

Tafelmusik get Podger who gets Mozart

Posted on September 28, 2024 by barczablog

As I look at this stylish picture of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart I wonder. Through the decades I have been listening to his music there are a variety of approaches, sometimes so respectful as to put Mozart on an impossible pedestal. … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged Koerner Hall, Rachel Podger, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, William Shatner, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | 2 Comments

Pickle Theatre staged reading of Venus in Fur

Posted on September 22, 2024 by barczablog

As M John Kennedy explained it to me before the show, they had to fill in a space on the application form they completed for their production of David Ives’ Venus in Fur, identifying the name of their company. “Pickle … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Personal ruminations & essays, Reviews | Tagged Annex Theatre, Dahlia Katz, Erynn Brook, Leopold Sacher-Masoch, M. John Kennedy, meta-theatre, Pickle Theatre, Roman Polanski, Venus in Fur, Venus in Furs | Leave a comment

Unexpected light in 1939

Posted on September 21, 2024 by barczablog

Last night I watched 1939, a recent play by Jani Lauzon and Kaitlyn Riordan at Berkeley St Theatre, a brilliant snapshot of the madness of residential schools and resilience in response. It’s a Canadian Stage and Belfry theatre joint production … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Reviews | Tagged 1939, Belfry Theatre, Brefny Caribou, Canadian Stage, Canadian Stage Company, Catherine Fitch, Cree, Grace Lamarche, Indigenous, Jani Lauzon, John Wamsley, Kaitlyn Riordan, Merewyn Comeau, Mohawk, Nathan Howe, Ojibwe, Richard Comeau, Stratford Festival, William Shakespeare | Leave a comment

Thorold and Vineland: cats, plants and Figaro

Posted on September 20, 2024 by barczablog

No opera today, although the headline may seem to promise as much. Before we got to Eryna’s house in Thorold we stopped in Vineland. This was our third or fourth visit to The Watering Can Flower Market, a place to … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, domestic & wild, Food, Health and Nutrition | Tagged AngieOHantiques, Cats, Figaro, Pho18, Shannon Passero, The Post Office, The Watering Can, Thorold, Vineland | Leave a comment

Ariadne on Naxos in 1969 at the Opera School

Posted on September 17, 2024 by barczablog

The title of the opera is Ariadne auf Naxos, done as Ariadne on Naxos because it was being sung in English. That’s how Richard Strauss’s opera was presented back in March 1969 at the Opera School of the University of … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, University life | Tagged Ariadne auf Naxos, Edward Johnson Building, Edward Johnson Building Library, Ernesto Barbini, Hermann Geiger-Torel, Mary Lou Fallis, Opera School, Richard Strauss, Riki Turofsky, Steven Henrikson, University of Toronto | 4 Comments

CICM and OBR present Dvořák’s Jacobin

Posted on September 15, 2024 by barczablog

The Canadian Institute for Czech Music (CICM) and Opera by Request (OBR) collaborated to present Antonín Dvořák’s opera Jacobin in a concert performance with orchestra at Jeanne Lamon Hall Friday September 13th. Produced by Professor John Holland of CICM, conducted … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera | Tagged Antonin Dvorak, Bill Shookhoff, Canadian Institute for Czech Music, Fidelio, Jacobin, John Holland, Opera by Request, Year of Czech Music | 2 Comments

Nick Hamm nixes Will Tell ham

Posted on September 13, 2024 by barczablog

My headline is not just a nod to “Sticks Nix Hick Pix”. There truly was no ham to see in the gala World Premiere of William Tell, unless we include the man who wrote and directed, namely Nick Hamm speaking … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Cinema, video & DVDs, Reviews | Tagged Ben Kingsley, Claes Bang, Friedrich Schiller, Gioachino Rossini, Jonathan Pryce, Nick Hamm, Rosmersholm, Steven Price, The Sound of Music, William Tell | Leave a comment

Fresh Rosmersholm at Crow’s Theatre

Posted on September 12, 2024 by barczablog

You sometimes hear people tell you that a play from another century seems to speak directly to our own time. Last night watching Duncan Macmillan’s new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s Rosmersholm at Crow’s Theatre directed by Chris Abraham was the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Dance, theatre & musicals, Reviews | Tagged Beau Dixon, Ben Carlson, Chris Abraham, Crow's Theatre, Diego Matamoros, Diego Matamoros) and with the sensitivity of director Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu, Duncan Macmillan, Guloien Theatre, Henrik Ibsen, Jonathan Young, Kate Hennig, Rosmersholm, Thomas Ryder Payne, Virgilia Griffith | Leave a comment

Mercury & La Passione: Rachel Podger leads Tafelmusik in Haydn Symphonies

Posted on September 7, 2024 by barczablog

There’s a new recording of two Symphonies by Joseph Haydn scheduled to come out in October from Tafelmusik. The performances feature violinist Rachel Podger, who debuts in her new role as Principal Guest Director later this month when Tafelmusik begin … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology | Tagged Joseph Haydn, Koerner Hall, Rachel Podger, sturm und drang, Tafelmusik, violin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Leave a comment