Category Archives: Music and musicology

Talking to Karina Bray about the first complete recording of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Songs of Travel by a female artist

Posted on August 28, 2025 by barczablog

Karina Bray is an award-winning mezzo-soprano. Karina’s new recording of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Songs of Travel most definitely travels somewhere new, given that the song cycle is normally sung by a man. Her new recording is the world premiere of … Continue reading →

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Toronto Vocal Showcase 2.0

Posted on August 28, 2025 by barczablog

Today I enjoyed the second Toronto Vocal Showcase. The first one was held almost exactly two years ago in late August 2023, the brainchild of Ryan Hofman. In 2023 he said “Today…I hope I changed the game going forward.“ The … Continue reading →

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Dramatic New Orford String Quartet Concert

Posted on July 31, 2025 by barczablog

The New Orford String Quartet appearance July 30th at Walter Hall was not as expected. Yes our Toronto Summer Music program was already a departure from normal expectations, putting Brahms’ F minor piano quintet before rather than after Beethoven’s Op … Continue reading →

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Affairs of the Heart at TSM

Posted on July 26, 2025 by barczablog

Friday night’s Toronto Summer Music concert at Walter Hall titled “Affairs of the Heart” lived up to its name. Three chamber works in a diverse assortment of styles brought the sold out audience to its feet each time. We started … Continue reading →

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Missing comes east to Toronto

Posted on July 25, 2025 by barczablog

Toronto Summer Music presented a single concert performance of the opera Missing, from a libretto by Marie Clements and a score by Brian Current, to a full Koerner Hall. This was its first appearance in Eastern Canada after having been … Continue reading →

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George Li: virtuosity in the service of good taste

Posted on July 18, 2025 by barczablog

Tonight I had the pleasure of making my first acquaintance with pianist George Li, courtesy the Toronto Summer Music Festival, in an excellent concert at Koerner Hall. The four big works on the program plus the pair of encores all … Continue reading →

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Calidore String Quartet offering American culture

Posted on July 16, 2025 by barczablog

I love ambitious concerts, and that’s certainly what we heard tonight at Walter Hall from Calidore String Quartet, comprised of violinists Jeffrey Myers & Ryan Meehan, violist Jeremy Berry and cellist Estelle Choi. In one of his brief introductory talks … Continue reading →

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Discovering Mandle Philharmonic via YouTube

Posted on July 3, 2025 by barczablog

I’ve been watching the passionate responses to the concert at Roy Thomson Hall last week when Mandle Cheung conducted the Toronto Symphony in Mahler’s 2nd Symphony. The Globe & Mail contacted me the day before, asking me if I’d be … Continue reading →

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A Real Pain’s Chopin

Posted on June 24, 2025 by barczablog

I have just seen Jesse Eisenberg’s film A Real Pain (2024). I call it his, in the sense that Eisenberg wrote & directed and also stars as David opposite Kieran Culkin who is David’s cousin Benji. They are on a … Continue reading →

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Gimeno Conducts the Best of Brahms

Posted on June 13, 2025 by barczablog

I would not dispute the title of tonight’s Toronto Symphony concert: “Gimeno Conducts the Best of Brahms”. Among the many wonderful pieces Johannes Brahms composed, his first piano concerto and fourth symphony are not just popular but arguably among his … Continue reading →

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