Author Archives: barczablog

Scarborough Philharmonic season finale

Posted on May 4, 2025 by barczablog

Tonight’s concluding concert of Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2024-25 season is like a perfect mirror, as I reflect on questions of nationalism, artistic leadership and approaches to programming. This concert was the concluding evening of Linda Rogers’ tenure as the Executive … Continue reading →

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COC’s Wozzeck, a relatable opera

Posted on April 28, 2025 by barczablog

This spring season of the Canadian Opera Company feels a bit like the second coming of Alexander Neef, their former General Director. Next week we’ll be seeing the revival of Robert Carsen’s Eugene Onegin, a production that Neef brought to … Continue reading →

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Soundstreams’ Garden of Vanished Pleasures on a dark Toronto weekend

Posted on April 27, 2025 by barczablog

In 2021 the COVID pandemic disrupted the plans by Soundstreams to present their original production Garden of Vanished Pleasures, a music-theatre work about Derek Jarman, the gay activist, film-maker & poet who died of AIDS related complications in 1994, devised … Continue reading →

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Celebración hispana from Gimeno, Gomyo & TSO

Posted on April 26, 2025 by barczablog

Tonight is the first of three voyages into the heart of the hispanic as imagined in music, guided by Toronto Symphony Music Director Gustavo Gimeno, a program to be repeated Saturday and Sunday that feels like a genuine celebration. While … Continue reading →

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Yuja Wang plays Tchaikovsky with the Toronto Symphony

Posted on April 17, 2025 by barczablog

I have never seen Roy Thomson Hall as full as it was tonight, Wednesday April 16th. They had a cop directing the cars out of the underground parking garage: because so many people came to see Yuja Wang play the … Continue reading →

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Opera Atelier bring David and Jonathan to Toronto

Posted on April 10, 2025 by barczablog

Opera Atelier brought their opulent 2022 Versailles production of Marc Antoine Charpentier’s 1688 opera/ballet David and Jonathan to Koerner Hall in Toronto. Artistic Director Marshall Pynkoski reminded us last night in his pre-show speech that the company began forty years … Continue reading →

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Madelaine Rose talks about Passed Down, her new solo show

Posted on April 7, 2025 by barczablog

Madelaine Rose is an accomplished Toronto based multi-hyphenated internationally recognized award winning creator. She is an actor, producer and director with experience and training in both film and theatre. You can read a more detailed bio here on IMDB. I … Continue reading →

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Missa Solemnis from Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony

Posted on April 5, 2025 by barczablog

Friday April 4th the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir conducted by Jean-Sébastien Vallée presented Beethoven’s glorious Missa Solemnis to a partially – full Roy Thomson Hall. The Missa Solemnis is a perfect showcase for JS and his impeccable baton work leading this … Continue reading →

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Ardra Shephard’s surprising Fallosophy

Posted on March 31, 2025 by barczablog

I have just roared through Ardra Shephard’s memoir, a book that I loved from start to finish, wishing it wouldn’t end. I did not expect such a fun book. If I call Ardra a multiple sclerosis activist it could make … Continue reading →

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TSO, Angela Hewitt & Marta Gardolińska

Posted on March 27, 2025 by barczablog

I went home satisfied from tonight’s Toronto Symphony concert, a program including some items exactly as expected plus a few surprises. For an evening titled “Angela Hewitt Plays Mozart” it was a very solid collaboration between the famous pianist and … Continue reading →

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