Category Archives: Books & Literature

Macbeth closing performance: women have it harder

Posted on May 21, 2023 by barczablog

Three weeks ago I reviewed the powerful opening night of the new Sir David McVicar production of Verdi’s Macbeth from the Canadian Opera Company. Today I came full circle watching the last show of the run including exciting changes in … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews | Tagged Adam Luther, Canadian Opera Company, Charlotte Siegel, Elinor Ross, Four Seasons Centre, Giuseppe Verdi, Lady Macbeth, Louis Quilico, Macbeth, Matthew Cairns, Quinn Kelsey, Sir David McVicar, Speranza Scappucci, Tosca, Tracy Cantin | Leave a comment

Barkley: Snoopy or Benjy?

Posted on May 1, 2023 by barczablog

Barkley Barcza is our newest family member. We didn’t choose the name, glad to use the name that he already seems to know. And yes it sounds cute with his surname. Snoopy is the beagle everyone knows, the creation of … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, domestic & wild, Books & Literature, Dance, theatre & musicals, Personal ruminations & essays | Tagged André Alexis, Barkley, Charles M Schulz, Crow's Theatre, dogs, Fifteen Dogs, Peanuts, Snoopy | Leave a comment

Creepy COC Macbeth

Posted on May 1, 2023 by barczablog

On a dark rainy day in the midst of Toronto’s traffic chaos I was rendered speechless by the new Canadian Opera Company production of Verdi’s Macbeth directed by Sir David McVicar. I never knew this opera could move me so … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Dance, theatre & musicals, Opera, Reviews | Tagged Adam Luther, Alexandrina Pendatchanska, Canadian Opera Company, Clarence Frazer, Four Seasons Centre, Giuseppe Verdi, Louis Quilico, Macbeth, Matthew Cairns, Quinn Kelsey, Tracy Cantin, Vartan Gabrielian, William Shakespeare | 7 Comments

Bud Roach’s provocative new recording Affetti Amorosi

Posted on April 22, 2023 by barczablog

Although I listened twice through to Affetti Amorosi, Bud Roach’s new CD of 17th century songs in his light tenor voice accompanying himself on the theorbo, I took a break for holy week as I turned to his other recent … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology | Tagged Affetti Amorosi, Bud Roach, Carlo Goldoni, Carlo Gozzi, commedia dell'arte, Domenico Pietropaolo, lazzi, theorbo | Leave a comment

Being Legendary at the ROM: Kent Monkman confronts Colonialism and rethinks History

Posted on March 31, 2023 by barczablog

Kent Monkman’s current show Being Legendary at the Royal Ontario Museum continues for a couple of weeks more until April 16th. Art Canada Institute have created a book that helps preserve the show and its impact. I’ve been pondering the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Architecture & Design, Books & Literature, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged Being Legendary, Going Away Song, Indigenous art, Indigenous Genocide, Kent Monkman, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, Royal Ontario Museum, The Escape, The Sparrow | Leave a comment

Metamorphoses 2023

Posted on March 27, 2023 by barczablog

Last night I watched a brand new opera featuring a sensual feast of colours hitting the eye and ear. Today I was at Crow’s Theatre, enjoying Metamorphoses 2023 from Theatre Smith-Gilmour, in Ovid’s stories of transformations of gods & humans, … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Dance, theatre & musicals, Reviews | Tagged Crow's Theatre, Daniel R. Henkel, Dean Gilmour, Metamorphoses, Michele Smith, Neena Jayarajan, Ovid, Rob Feetham, Sukruti Tirupattur, Theatre Smith-Gilmour | 2 Comments

Colin Eatock’s Birthday concert

Posted on February 21, 2023 by barczablog

No there was no cake or champagne but I’m watching my weight and can’t drive home to Scarborough if I’ve been drinking. Yet it was truly like a party, a celebration of our host Colin Eatock on the occasion of … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged Alison Melville, Christopher Bagan, Colin Eatock, Glenn Gould, Hans Poser, Louis Andriessen | Leave a comment

NACO Songs for Murdered Sisters

Posted on February 12, 2023 by barczablog

Every year at this time, the Toronto Symphony and National Arts Centre Orchestras visit one another as part of a tour. NACO and Joshua Hopkins brought the cycle Songs for Murdered Sisters by Jake Heggie and Margaret Atwood to Roy … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged Alexander Shelley, Isabel Bader, Jake Heggie, Johannes Brahms, Joshua Hopkins, Kingston, Margaret Atwood, NACO, Roy Thomson Hall, TSO | Leave a comment

Questions for Colin Eatock at 65

Posted on February 6, 2023 by barczablog

The invitation from Colin Eatock caught my eye: “I’m organizing a concert in Toronto on February 20 (my 65th birthday).The programme will include a new piece by me.Admission is by donation — I hope you can make it!” We’ve seen … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Interviews, Music and musicology, Press Releases and Announcements | Tagged Alison Melville, Christopher Bagan, Colin Eatock, Felix Mendelssohn, Glenn Gould, Hans Poser, Heliconian Hall, JS Bach, Louis Andriessen, St Wulfric | Leave a comment

Salome: from Matthew and Mark, through Oscar, Richard and Atom

Posted on February 1, 2023 by barczablog

It can be enjoyable to trace the changes in the way a story is adapted and/or interpreted. Salome begins in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. Matthew 14:1-11 (NIV)1 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Architecture & Design, Books & Literature, Cinema, video & DVDs, Dance, theatre & musicals, Opera, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged Atom Egoyan, Canadian Opera Company, Oscar Wilde, Regietheater, Richard Strauss, Salome, The Ten Commandments | Leave a comment