Author Archives: barczablog

Pieces we’re eager to hear #2: Schubert’s 9th and Saint-Saën’s Piano Concerto #2

Posted on November 3, 2022 by barczablog

SCHUBERT’S GREAT SYMPHONY – Saturday, November 5, 2022 | 7:30 pm The Salvation Army Scarborough Citadel 2021 Lawrence Ave. E. (at Warden) Scarborough Philharmonic OrchestraRonald Royer, ConductorLisa Tahara, piano This performance features Schubert’s masterpiece and a virtuosic piano concerto by … Continue reading →

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Pieces we’re eager to hear #1: Alpine Symphony in North York

Posted on November 3, 2022 by barczablog

Richard Strauss–An Alpine Symphony Rafael Luz Conductor Saturday November 5, 2022 8:00pm Prince BallroomPan Pacific Toronto900 York Mills RoadNorth York (Leslie & Don Mills) Through mist and fog, atop a glacier, across green meadows and babbling brooks: Richard Strauss’ An … Continue reading →

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Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas—In Concert with the TSO

Posted on October 29, 2022 by barczablog

Tonight Erika and I watched The Nightmare Before Christmas shown with the Toronto Symphony playing the score live, conducted by Sarah Hicks at Roy Thomson Hall. As with the 100 Years of Film Music concert we attended earlier this week, … Continue reading →

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100 Years of Epic Film Scores from the TSO

Posted on October 26, 2022 by barczablog

The Toronto Symphony program “100 Years of Epic Film Scores” is a kind of history lesson, while celebrating the role music has played in film for over a century. The significance of the century comes from it being TSO’s 100th … Continue reading →

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Another look at Alden’s Dutchman, a first look at Harold Wilson

Posted on October 24, 2022 by barczablog

Today’s matinee was the Canadian Opera Company’s closing performance of The Flying Dutchman, complete with a singer making his debut. The American bass Harold Wilson stepped in for an indisposed Franz-Josef Selig in the role of Daland. When I looked … Continue reading →

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Orpheus in the Underworld

Posted on October 22, 2022 by barczablog

Toronto Operetta Theatre opened their production of Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld tonight, directed & designed by Guillermo Silva-Marin, and the familiar music conducted by Larry Beckwith. In a month when the opera stages are showing two divas murdered by … Continue reading →

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Yuja Wang, Magnus Lindberg, Anton Bruckner and the TSO

Posted on October 21, 2022 by barczablog

As we tentatively poke our heads out, looking for signs that normal life has resumed after the pandemic, concerts like tonight’s from the Toronto Symphony affirm relationships & collaboration, the latest in a series of celebratory moments in the orchestra’s … Continue reading →

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The tenth anniversary ELIZABETH KREHM MEMORIAL CONCERT

Posted on October 17, 2022 by barczablog

Join us for an evening of music in celebration of Elizabeth Krehm’s life and in support of St Michael’s Hospital ICU. Come Closer: Songs on Texts by Elizabeth Krehm – Ryan TrewSymphony no. 4 “Italian” – Felix Mendelssohn  Evan Mitchell, … Continue reading →

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Darkly Comic Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

Posted on October 17, 2022 by barczablog

I’ve just come from the matinee of Rajiv Joseph’s play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, presented by Crow’s Theatre in co-production with Modern Times Stage Company. The title tells you the basic premise, a tiger is caged in a … Continue reading →

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COC Carmen Opens

Posted on October 15, 2022 by barczablog

I saw and heard opening night of the Canadian Opera Company’s Carmen tonight at the Four Seasons Centre, a revival of Joel Ivany’s 2016 production. It’s a wonderful take on a well-known work with a very original approach to the … Continue reading →

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