Author Archives: barczablog

Pollyanna’s Picks for 2013

Posted on December 26, 2013 by barczablog

Last year around this time you might have seen “Pollyanna’s Picks for 2012”, a list looking “through the rose-coloured glasses of someone who prefers to avoid negativity.”  Had I not been knocked back to the Stone Age by a power … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal ruminations & essays | 7 Comments

Born on December 22nd

Posted on December 21, 2013 by barczablog

If you’re a child born on December 22nd you might grow up perpetually frustrated because of the proximity of your birthday to Christmas.  There you are, early in the sign of Capricorn, and everybody’s celebrating someone else’s birth instead of … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays | Leave a comment

Crowdfunding Glennie-WSO-Ho

Posted on December 20, 2013 by barczablog

“Press releases and announcements” are presented verbatim without comment. Dame Evelyn Glennie, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra & Composer Vincent Ho Launch Indiegogo Campaign For New Recording First recording with a major Canadian orchestra & first foray into crowdfunding for Glennie For … Continue reading →

Posted in Press Releases and Announcements | Leave a comment

My Person of the Year

Posted on December 17, 2013 by barczablog

I added “my” to the headline because otherwise a reader would assume I’m referencing the annual feature in Time Magazine. Given the usual content in this space you might expect me to pick a composer or a performer.  Pollyanna will … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal ruminations & essays, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Blessedly unfamiliar

Posted on December 15, 2013 by barczablog

The Sunday church service the morning after the ATG Messiah (and the effort to do it justice in my review) is like a meditation on what does and does not work in a ritual. As I ponder Christianity I keep … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal ruminations & essays | Tagged | 4 Comments

AtG Messiah: without a net

Posted on December 15, 2013 by barczablog

We were promised something different, and they delivered. Against the Grain Theatre’s Messiah took a familiar piece and added something without disturbing the essential gold.  Handel, Isaiah, Revelation (etc) are well served, in a piece entirely true to the  name … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

10 Questions for David Ferry

Posted on December 12, 2013 by barczablog

I first encountered David Ferry as an actor, even though he’s also a director, a dramaturg and a great teacher with extensive experience in theatre, television, film and radio.  In that production of Othello Ferry created the most astonishing Iago, … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Interviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Evangelist Season

Posted on December 9, 2013 by barczablog

One has to be careful with metaphors.  We use them without safety nets or training wheels, which is to say, they’re a kind of figurative language that’s riskier than simile,  those constructions where the relationships in the signification are spelled … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Personal ruminations & essays, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Thinking about snobs, with Baz Luhrmann and Jay Gatsby

Posted on December 8, 2013 by barczablog

I’m thinking about two competing narratives lately, as I alluded at the beginning of my review of Singing the Earth.  Is transcendent activism possible? Nelson Mandela seems to say yes.  Rob Ford would agree, although he sees himself as an … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays, Politics, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Singing the Earth: The Old & The New

Posted on December 6, 2013 by barczablog

Today is a day of contrasts.  The morning paper brought more revelations about Toronto’s Mayor, while this afternoon’s social media story was the passing of Nelson Mandela.  While Mandela seems to embody the possibilities for heroic activism nothing suggests that  … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Opera, Politics, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment