Category Archives: Music and musicology

St Lawrence Quartet gives Toronto Summer Music Sesqui spin

Posted on July 14, 2017 by barczablog

Tonight’s concert by the St Lawrence Quartet launching the 2017 Toronto Summer Music Festival, the first under their new Artistic Director Jonathan Crow, has me wishing I could spend the next few weeks doing nothing but going to TSM concerts. … Continue reading →

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Oundjian’s Carmina Burana with TSO

Posted on June 25, 2017 by barczablog

Tonight’s concert brings us to the end of the Toronto Symphony season, and of their Decades Project, an exploration of music & art led by Peter Oundjian.  There’s an additional poignancy when we notice that the TSO’s Oundjian decade and … Continue reading →

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Dame Ethel Smyth: Suffragette

Posted on June 24, 2017 by barczablog

I’ve seen two operas by Dame Ethel Smyth presented tonight by Opera 5 under the heading “Suffragette”. The title feels especially apt for a composer I’d never encountered before, who was not only active in seeking the vote for women … Continue reading →

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Life Reflected

Posted on June 19, 2017 by barczablog

Tonight I enjoyed the sole Toronto performance of Life Reflected at Sony Centre, a multi-media anthology produced by the National Arts Centre Orchestra, celebrating four Canadian women as part of the Luminato Festival.  Google tells me that Life Reflected was … Continue reading →

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TSO: a decade’s lessons

Posted on June 15, 2017 by barczablog

The Toronto Symphony’s Decades Project has taken the orchestra and its listeners on a gradual tour through history.  As we’ve progressed forward 10 years at a time we’re less and less able to escape, as more and more we confront … Continue reading →

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Toy Piano Composers play with us as they launch CD

Posted on June 8, 2017 by barczablog

When you stop and think about it, it makes sense. We “play” our instruments right? Then surely all instruments are in a real sense toys, broadening the implications of Toy Piano  Composers, a Toronto collective of music makers who just … Continue reading →

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TSO and Walton’s Decade

Posted on June 4, 2017 by barczablog

I can’t be the only one who made the connection, watching the Toronto Symphony tonight at Roy Thomson Hall.   It felt like a special concert. Sir Andrew Davis was just announced this week as the TSO’s interim Artistic Director for … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Music and musicology, Reviews | 2 Comments

TSO: Sir Andrew Davis to be interim Artistic Director, Peter Oundjian Conductor Emeritus

Posted on May 31, 2017 by barczablog

May 31, 2017: The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) announces today that Sir Andrew Davis will act as Interim Artistic Director for two seasons following the conclusion of Peter Oundjian’s 14-year tenure as Music Director at the end of the 2017/18 … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Press Releases and Announcements | 1 Comment

TSO: back in Toronto, eh?

Posted on May 28, 2017 by barczablog

After an exciting tour to Israel and Europe, the Toronto Symphony are back in Canada. “Back in Toronto eh” could just as easily be “back in Toronto A” given what we heard tonight, a program consisting of a pair of … Continue reading →

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Cavalli’s Elena from Toronto Consort

Posted on May 13, 2017 by barczablog

Francesco Cavalli’s Elena received its Canadian premiere tonight at the Jeanne Lamon Hall in a partially staged performance that was still more than enough to charm the audience in attendance. As my companion observed it was a nerdy bunch, ready … Continue reading →

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