Monthly Archives: May 2025

Beethoven’s Eroica and Goodyear’s Callaloo: TSO’s triumph

Posted on May 29, 2025 by barczablog

Tonight the Toronto Symphony continue their winning streak, another wonderful program of diverse musical compositions, played brilliantly. A key contributor to our enjoyment was guest conductor Kristiina Poska. We heard three pieces tonight after the obligatory Oh Canada performance. Speaking … Continue reading →

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Inside the Cabinet Full of Curiosities 2, to be randomly presented by Apocryphonia

Posted on May 29, 2025 by barczablog

June 8th Apocryphonia will present a concert at Heliconian Hall titled “A Cabinet Full of Curiosities 2”. As the program says “an eclectic mix of classical music from around the world performed entirely at random!” Alex Cappellazzo, and his Apocryphonia … Continue reading →

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Kenzia Dalie explains Clowns Reading Shakespeare

Posted on May 25, 2025 by barczablog

After a couple years of development (and many laughs), Kenzia Dalie is ready to share the full version of Clowns Reading Shakespeare, a show coming to parks east (Kew Gardens) and west (Memorial Park) in Toronto in June. A multidisciplinary … Continue reading →

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Tales of an Urban Indian in Toronto

Posted on May 24, 2025 by barczablog

I’m a bit late to the party, as far as Tales of an Urban Indian, by Darrell Dennis. I was aware of the show awhile ago, speaking as a regular at Talk is Free Theatre, a company that has done … Continue reading →

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Satisfying Comfort Food

Posted on May 18, 2025 by barczablog

I’ve just seen Comfort Food, Zorana Sadiq’s second play. It’s another creation supported by Crow’s Theatre, and quite different from MixTape (2021), her one-woman debut show. Zorana is a woman of many talents, a classical singer & actor whose reflections … Continue reading →

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Genre defying Macbeth

Posted on May 14, 2025 by barczablog

I have been a fan of Eric Woolfe for a long time. My first encounter with his genius was Madhouse Variations, more than ten years ago. I remember sitting in a theatre laughing so hard that I couldn’t stop, my … Continue reading →

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Adam Sherkin investigates the queer canon in upcoming Piano Lunaire concert COMPOSERS IN PLAY XVI.

Posted on May 12, 2025 by barczablog

Thursday night at 7:30 pm May 15th, at the Arts and Letters Club, Piano Lunaire will present COMPOSERS IN PLAY XVI, a concert subtitled “Sounding the Queer Canon”. I asked Piano Lunaire founder Adam Sherkin a few questions about the … Continue reading →

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First Mother’s Day since my mother passed away

Posted on May 12, 2025 by barczablog

I played the organ at Hillcrest Church Sunday, substituting for David Warrack. It was Mother’s Day, the first Mother’s Day since my mom passed away. I played one of her favourite melodies as the Offertory. Ack Värmeland du sköna is … Continue reading →

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Asking Ardra Shephard about her Fallosophy

Posted on May 8, 2025 by barczablog

I dashed through Ardra Shephard’s memoir Fallosophy in a day, unable to put it down and laughing out loud regularly, the most entertaining book I have read in a long time. I am such a lucky guy that I get … Continue reading →

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Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique from the Toronto Symphony

Posted on May 8, 2025 by barczablog

Tonight was entirely an orchestral night for the Toronto Symphony. No concerti, no soloists, just the virtuoso players of the TSO in two big works, one a world premiere. As Gustavo Gimeno suggested in his program note, tonight’s pieces “examine … Continue reading →

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