Category Archives: Essays

Topic of cancer

Posted on February 20, 2012 by barczablog

Spoiler alert: unavoidably I have to talk about the way some films end because that’s central to this discussion.  If you don’t want me to reveal how 50/50 ends please stop reading…Anyone still there? Having seen Dani Girl, a provocative … Continue reading →

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Enigmatic Liszt

Posted on February 18, 2012 by barczablog

There’s more to Franz Liszt than most people realize.  If you ask a musicologist they’ll usually rattle off a series of truisms: one of the first great virtuosi for the piano, possibly the greatest pianist in history Wagner’s father-in-law Long-lived … Continue reading →

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Multiple voices

Posted on February 14, 2012 by barczablog

It’s a curious coincidence.  The two debuts in popular music that I felt at the most visceral level, even though they were separated by many years and with an ocean between them, have something else in common.  No I didn’t … Continue reading →

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Opera Atelier Lays Claim to a New Period

Posted on February 9, 2012 by barczablog

Opera Atelier announced their 2012-2013 season, a revival of Mozart’s Magic Flute and a new production of Weber’s Der Freischütz.  This time they’re trying something new. OA are remarkable in the way they build upon their strengths.  Over their quarter … Continue reading →

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House of Dreams

Posted on February 8, 2012 by barczablog

None of the arts exists in isolation.  While I can go to an art gallery and see paintings or sculpture by an artist, those works came from a person who ate, drank, and slept.  Chances are they read books, saw … Continue reading →

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Upwards

Posted on February 4, 2012 by barczablog

I’ve been trying to wrap my head around the images from Kaija Saariaho’s opera Amour de Loin in its Toronto production from the Canadian Opera Company as “Love from Afar“.  When I hit the publish button the other night to … Continue reading →

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Bridal lullaby

Posted on January 24, 2012 by barczablog

Without being able to ask the artist, one sometimes wonders about the depths of meaning one encounters.  Are they intentional creations—where the creator sought for and purposefully aimed at those depths—or, are they serendipitous brilliance?  There’s a third possibility, that … Continue reading →

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“Tosca leaps…”

Posted on January 21, 2012 by barczablog

If this were a debate, Joseph Kerman would be in one corner, dissing Puccini’s Tosca, the opera he famously called a “shabby shocker”. Kerman is not alone in that corner.  Benjamin Britten wasn’t too thrilled with Tosca either.  But I … Continue reading →

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Operatic alchemy

Posted on January 19, 2012 by barczablog

The Canadian Opera Company announced its 2012-2013 season today, January 18th, a combination of works old and new.  I don’t pretend to understand how an opera company chooses their repertoire, although I think I understand some of the issues involved.  … Continue reading →

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What’s under the tree?

Posted on January 18, 2012 by barczablog

The recent High Definition Metropolitan Opera broadcast of Philip Glass’s Satyagraha offered another look at one of the most popular operas of the past few decades.  I am posting this the night before the Canadian Opera Company announces their 2012-2013 … Continue reading →

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