Author Archives: barczablog

Influential Einstein

Posted on June 10, 2012 by barczablog

Einstein on the Beach has finally come to Toronto, an opera whose importance and influence is out of all proportion to the actual number who saw it.  Einstein’s a perfect example of that crazy 20th century phenomenon, where the idea … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Beginning the Marathon

Posted on June 9, 2012 by barczablog

I attended the first section of Stewart Goodyear’s “Beethoven Marathon” today at Koerner Hall. I am still trying to wrap my head around this experience, which was in some respects more of a happening than a concert. We were given … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

The New Everest

Posted on June 8, 2012 by barczablog

In a fascinating article in the New York Times, Anthony Tommasini observed that virtuosi are “becoming a dime a dozen”.   Surely there’s some truth to this.  Tommasini made the analogy to the four minute mile, once thought to be an … Continue reading →

Posted in Essays | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Parkdale Peter Pan

Posted on June 3, 2012 by barczablog

Small is beautiful, especially if you embrace theatricality.  In a world of CGI, big budget special effects and body doubles, everything is possible on a grand scale.  If the willing suspension of disbelief that Coleridge described is an innate human … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Contes pour enfants pas sages

Posted on May 30, 2012 by barczablog

Christopher Butterfield’s Contes pour enfants pas sages premiered in Toronto recently adapting Jacques Prévert’s 1947 collection of stories of the same name.  It’s a cycle adapted as musical theatre in a collaboration between Continuum Music, Choir 21 led by David … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Promised Land

Posted on May 27, 2012 by barczablog

Thank you Tafelmusik.  What took you so long? Tonight I heard Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir venture boldly into the 19th century, sounding very much like they belong there.  The program on this occasion consisted of Beethoven’s “Eroica” and … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Essential Alcina

Posted on May 26, 2012 by barczablog

Alcina by Essential Opera was my second consecutive night of Händel, following my second viewing of the Canadian Opera Company’s unorthodox production of Semele.  I hope I can be forgiven for making comparisons, but I think it’s relevant given that Toronto Händel … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Semele in my nose

Posted on May 25, 2012 by barczablog

I had another chance to see & hear and even smell Zhang Huan’s production of Semele at the Canadian Opera Company. Yes, Semele also smells good (and I’m not just saying that to make a feeble joke).  Before the curtain … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

From C to shining C

Posted on May 22, 2012 by barczablog

No this isn’t about Pavarotti or tenors. Today I finally closed the circle on Beethoven’s sonatas.  I’d played thirty-one of his thirty-two in a sequence following the first two posts I made, after hearing about Stewart Goodyear’s Beethoven Marathon. For … Continue reading →

Posted in Essays | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

10 Questions for Mireille Asselin

Posted on May 19, 2012 by barczablog

A singer deemed “Superb” by the Los Angeles Times, praised by Opera Canada for her “vivacious stage presence” and “soprano that charms and brightens a room”, the grateful recipient of Opera Hamilton’s Sheila Zack Scholarship for Emerging Artists, Mireille Asselin … Continue reading →

Posted in Interviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment