Category Archives: Opera

Met HD Wozzeck

Posted on January 13, 2020 by barczablog

They say it’s a co-production, this new Wozzeck that was broadcast in High Definition this past weekend from the Metropolitan Opera: “A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera; Salzburg Festival; the Canadian Opera Company, Toronto; and Opera Australia.” The co-pro of … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

TOT Gypsy Baron

Posted on December 29, 2019 by barczablog

The Toronto Operetta Theatre opened their new production of Johann Strauss Jr’s The Gypsy Baron tonight at the Jane Mallett Theatre with a full house in attendance for the first of five performances. It’s a very uneven production of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Politics, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tribal Messiah

Posted on December 22, 2019 by barczablog

I’m trying to find the right word, so please bear with me. For someone who goes to see concerts & theatre more often than most people, you might never guess that I’m sometimes frustrated. My mantra is “I’m a lucky … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays, Reviews, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

TSO Messiah via Mozart

Posted on December 21, 2019 by barczablog

Tonight I heard something different from the Toronto Symphony. The TSO’s annual Messiah in Roy Thomson Hall with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir may seem like a ritual, but it actually varies from year to year. Every time we get different … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Questions for Beste Kalender

Posted on December 18, 2019 by barczablog

Beste Kalender could tell you about the different pathways to success. One can be discovered in competitions, especially if one wins. You can be mentored by great singers. There’s even the Hollywood legend, the understudy going on as last minute … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Interviews, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays, Press Releases and Announcements | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Figaro’s Wedding 2019

Posted on December 4, 2019 by barczablog

In 2013 Against the Grain offered the first of their “transladaptations” of one of the trilogy of da Ponte-Mozart operas, Figaro’s Wedding. Tonight AtG premiered something we might call a revival of the work, with a number of intriguing differences, … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Met HD Akhnaten

Posted on November 24, 2019 by barczablog

Yesterday I watched Philip Glass’s opera Akhnaten as presented in the Metropolitan Opera’s High Definition broadcast on a big screen in Scarborough, at the same time people were watching it in many places around the world. I wish the Canadian … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays, Politics, Reviews, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Met HD Akhnaten

Oxymoronic Augmented Opera

Posted on November 23, 2019 by barczablog

I don’t use that word lightly, and it’s not an insult. Some operas are oxymoronic, rife with contradiction, asymptotic in their fascination with impossibilities. Maeterlinck’s play Pelléas et Mélisande is the creation of a playwright who cringed in the presence … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays, Politics, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Eight Singers Drinking: and Singing

Posted on November 9, 2019 by barczablog

While eight singers may have been drinking eight drinks at 8:00 pm on November 8th no one ate much of anything. (see what I did there?) At first I just thought it was a fun exercise, an excuse for a … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Architecture & Design, Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

New & Improved Don Giovanni

Posted on November 3, 2019 by barczablog

I saw Opera Atelier’s revival of Don Giovanni that’s running at the Ed Mirvish Theatre.  I loved it last time & it continues to thrill me as though it weren’t an opera I’ve known since childhood. But it feels new.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment