Author Archives: barczablog

Clemenza: Apollo’s Turn

Posted on February 4, 2013 by barczablog

After a week of thinking about Tristan und Isolde –at the COC, in the Opera Exchange, at the piano and rattling around inside my head—I was ready for something different.  Tristan is many things.  It’s humongous, it’s conceptual & symbolic, … Continue reading →

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Wagner and Adaptation: Linda’s Legacy

Posted on February 2, 2013 by barczablog

I use surnames in this blog.  Everyone calls him “Topher”, but when I wrote about him it was “Mokrzewski”.  Some aspects of the naming convention are absurdly obvious.  We call RW and RS “Wagner” and “Strauss not “Richard” and “Richard”, … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal ruminations & essays, University life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Actors! at Winchester Kitchen

Posted on February 2, 2013 by barczablog

The show is Actors! Canadian Actors Up Close and Personal, and before I go any further I need to say that it’s not a show in the usual sense.  I hate telling you too much because I’d be stealing some … Continue reading →

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Esprit : Stars, Suns, Sacre

Posted on February 1, 2013 by barczablog

There were three items on the Esprit Orchestra program tonight in Koerner Hall, interconnected by the laws of physics. The center-piece was a performance of a reduced version of Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps on the occasion of its centennial.  … Continue reading →

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Seven Liebestod questions for Christopher Mokrzewski

Posted on January 29, 2013 by barczablog

On Saturday February 2nd as part of the Opera Exchange colloquium on Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, with a nod to the composer’s bicentennial, pianist Christopher Mokrzewski will be playing Franz Liszt’s transcription of the liebestod for piano solo. Mokrzewski … Continue reading →

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Sellars interviewed

Posted on January 29, 2013 by barczablog

I watched a wonderful interview tonight at the Toronto Public Library, presented in co-operation between the Canadian Opera Company and the Toronto Star. Richard Ouzounian of The Star interrogated opera director Peter Sellars, in anticipation of tomorrow’s opening night of … Continue reading →

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Sellars market

Posted on January 27, 2013 by barczablog

At the intermissions of Tristan und Isolde Friday (dress rehearsal) there was madness in the air, a place rife with miscommunication.  Wagner himself said that good performances would make people mad (or crazy), so perhaps that was the problem.  A … Continue reading →

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10 Questions for Wallis Giunta

Posted on January 26, 2013 by barczablog

Have you seen this smile? That’s Wallis Giunta, who may have caught your eye in the in-flight magazine you’d casually leaf through if you were flying Porter airlines between New York and Toronto: as Giunta herself likely does.  A graduate … Continue reading →

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Heppner, Sellars & Viola: Tristan in Toronto

Posted on January 26, 2013 by barczablog

It’s really good. That’s all you need to know.  The Canadian Opera Company’s imported production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde (originally presented in Paris in 2005), directed by Peter Sellars with video by Bill Viola is quite simply unforgettable.   And … Continue reading →

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YPT Mourns the Loss of Founder, Susan Douglas Rubes

Posted on January 25, 2013 by barczablog

 “Press releases and announcements” are presented verbatim without comment. YPT Mourns the Loss of Founder, Susan Douglas Rubes It is with great sadness – but also gratitude for her life – that Young People’s Theatre acknowledges the passing of the … Continue reading →

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