Category Archives: Music and musicology

Two Peters and The Wolf, with a little help from Rick Mercer

Posted on November 27, 2015 by barczablog

Over $50,000 was raised at the first Toronto Symphony benefit for Sick Kids Hospital, likely to be an annual affair. The TSO put on a brilliant show.  There were two Peters, both the fictional one in the Prokofiev story and … Continue reading →

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OSM: was it good for you?

Posted on November 26, 2015 by barczablog

I could use technical jargon, I could be very polite, OR I can simply tell the story as my viscera understood it. L’Orchestra Symphonique de Montréal—aka “OSM”—came to Toronto led by their music director Kent Nagano to play at Roy … Continue reading →

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10 questions for James Gilchrist

Posted on November 23, 2015 by barczablog

Here is the “informal biography” from James Gilchrist’s website, and offers a much better portrait than anything I could attempt. At the age of eight I came home from school one day and informed my parents that I was now in the … Continue reading →

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10 questions for Peter Oundjian

Posted on November 14, 2015 by barczablog

A dynamic presence in the conducting world, Toronto-born conductor Peter Oundjian is renowned for his probing musicality, collaborative spirit, and engaging personality. Oundjian’s appointment as Music Director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) in 2004 reinvigorated the Orchestra with numerous … Continue reading →

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Mahler’s decade

Posted on November 13, 2015 by barczablog

Michael Sanderling led the Toronto Symphony in a program of works from the first decade of the twentieth century featuring soprano Simone Osborne. We heard a diverse assortment of musical styles represented even though the works have a few things … Continue reading →

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CASP: The Living Spectacle

Posted on November 8, 2015 by barczablog

(The) Canadian Art Song Project aim to explore the art song in all its manifestations.  Tonight CASP took a bold new step in the first in a new series of recitals.  “The Living Spectacle”, the first work on tonight’s program, … Continue reading →

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13 ways of looking at Pyramus and Thisbe

Posted on November 6, 2015 by barczablog

If a scientist could slice up love and loss into small specimens and put them onto slides and put them under a microscope it would resemble what we saw at the Four Seasons Centre tonight and in earlier performances from … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Architecture & Design, Music and musicology, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays | 1 Comment

Mezzo madness at the COC Ensemble Studio Competition

Posted on November 4, 2015 by barczablog

Centre Stage 2015, the Canadian Opera Company’s ensemble competition gala, was a celebration of Canada & Canadian talent. Co-hosted by two former winners, we were treated to both official languages, thanks to Karine Boucher’s exquisite French pronunciation as a charming … Continue reading →

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Psycho and the art of horror with the Toronto Symphony

Posted on November 1, 2015 by barczablog

For Halloween the Toronto Symphony presented their latest film with a live accompaniment, namely Psycho. A film buff might call it “Hitchcock’s Psycho.“ A film-music buff might prefer “Bernard Herrmann’s Psycho” which is closer to how I see it. Without … Continue reading →

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Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Mahler 10

Posted on October 24, 2015 by barczablog

I will put aside the question of the new Orchestre Métropolitain recording of Mahler’s 10th Symphony (Deryck Cooke version) for the moment, to talk about Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who conducts. Is Nézet-Séguin the most successful conductor Canada has ever produced? That … Continue reading →

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