Category Archives: Music and musicology

Tafelmusik Messiah

Posted on December 17, 2015 by barczablog

There is a trinity of Messiahs this week in different venues running until the weekend. Although there are two others—Toronto Symphony in Andrew Davis’s re-orchestration employing the Mendelssohn Choir and Against the Grain’s choreographed version — I went to see … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | 2 Comments

10 Questions for Joanne Lunn

Posted on December 14, 2015 by barczablog

Joanne Lunn is one of Britain’s leading Baroque sopranos, in great demand around the world.   Fortunately Toronto’s Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra is among the important ensembles with whom she collaborates.  Lunn rejoins Tafelmusik this week for Handel’s Messiah Dec 16-19 … Continue reading →

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2 Natural experiments with audience

Posted on December 12, 2015 by barczablog

Every performance is an experiment, or so said Joyce Wilkinson, a wonderful professor I encountered at OISE a number of years ago.  Performance is a kind of proposition (and you can take that both ways). When you think about that, … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays, Psychology and perception | Leave a comment

An Electric Messiah comes to Messiahville

Posted on December 9, 2015 by barczablog

We may as well be living in Messiahville. There are so many performances of this work in Toronto, it’s amazing that they don’t play excerpts on the organ at hockey games (but then again, there’s been so little cause for … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Popular music & culture, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

All Tchaikovsky TSO: cause for celebration

Posted on December 6, 2015 by barczablog

Tonight the Toronto Symphony played an all-Tchaikovsky program to a full house at Roy Thomson Hall, and the TSO make it feel like a genuine occasion. The audience loved the performances, first a concerto, then a symphony. And afterwards we … Continue reading →

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Sondra Radvanovsky: Beneath The Lights Of Home

Posted on December 5, 2015 by barczablog

There’s a song Deanna Durbin once sang that seemed particularly apt tonight as one of the encores coming after Sondra Radvanovsky’s recital at Koerner Hall with Anthony Manoli piano. I can see the lights of home Shining brightly o’er the … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews | 4 Comments

10 Questions for John Relyea

Posted on December 5, 2015 by barczablog

John Relyea?  I remember hearing that one of Canada’s great singers, Gary Relyea, had a son who was making a name for himself in the USA, first at the Merola program of the San Francisco Opera and inevitably at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Interviews, Music and musicology, Opera | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

L’Homme et le Ciel: worth the wait

Posted on December 4, 2015 by barczablog

I attended the opening of Adam Scime’s opera L’Homme et le Ciel at the Music Gallery, produced by FAWN Opera, directed by Amanda Smith and conducted by the composer. While I’ve seen two other presentations of portions from Scime’s opera –one … Continue reading →

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Vocalis 2 in the Great Hall

Posted on December 3, 2015 by barczablog

There are so many opportunities to hear great music in this city that the one I chose tonight could easily have slipped under the radar.  There’s so much going on at the Faculty of Music, check out their schedule (click … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, University life | 1 Comment

Nuts for Stewart Goodyear’s Nutcracker

Posted on December 2, 2015 by barczablog

I was never koo-koo for Coco-puffs, but the headline ambushed me as I sat listening, enthralled.  If it sounds childish, that might give you some idea of how this recording moves me.  I associate Nutcracker –the ballet, and the score– … Continue reading →

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