Category Archives: Opera

COC’s highly original Roméo et Juliette

Posted on October 6, 2025 by barczablog

It might be the best-known of all Shakespeare stories, the star-crossed lovers, dying young for love. Romeo and Juliet becomes Roméo et Juliette when a French composer such as Charles Gounod (1867) is telling the story in music. The rental … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Reviews | Tagged Alex Hetherington, Amy Lane, Canadian Opera Company, Charles Gounod, Gordon Bintner, Jules Barbier, Kseniia Proshina, Megan Latham, Michel Carré, music, opera, Owen McCausland, Robert Lepage, Robert Pomakov, Roméo et Juliette, Romeo and Juliet, Sandra Horst, Stephen Costello, surtitles, theatre, Yves Abel | 2 Comments

Over 800 meals from Boheme On Tap for Daily Bread Food Bank

Posted on September 20, 2025 by barczablog

I have a new perspective on Puccini’s opera since attending La Boheme On Tap last night at the Redwood Theatre, although watching Moonstruck last week while interviewing a couple of the participants highlighted the contrast. Yes Mimi lives in poverty, … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Reviews | Tagged Alexander Hajek, Andrew Tees, Ann Cooper Gay, Brahm Goldhamer, Daily Bread Food Bank, Dylan Wright, Giacomo Puccini, Guillermo Silva-Marin, Henry Ingram, Holly Chaplin, Joel Ricci, Kathryn Rose Johnston, La boheme, La Boheme On Tap, Moonstruck, Opera Revue, Peter Barcza, Redwood Theatre, Ryan Hofman | Leave a comment

Holly Chaplin and Ryan Hofman talk about their upcoming La Boheme On Tap

Posted on September 12, 2025 by barczablog

La Boheme is being presented at the Redwood Theatre on Friday September19th 8:00 p.m., a co-production with The Redwood Theatre including a silent auction in support of Daily Bread Food Bank. I talked to Holly Chaplin who sings the starring … Continue reading →

Posted in Interviews, Opera | Tagged Canadian Opera Company, classical-music, Elmwood Spa, genre, Giacomo Puccini, Holly Chaplin, La boheme, La Boheme On Tap, Massey Hall, Moonstruck, music, National Ballet of Canada, opera, Opera Revue, Puccini, Redwood Theatre, Ryan Hofman, SOLO, Southern Ontario Lyric Opera, theatre, Toronto Symphony Orchestra | Leave a comment

Alexander Hajek talks about the upcoming La Boheme On Tap

Posted on September 10, 2025 by barczablog

La Boheme is being presented at the Redwood Theatre on Friday September19th 8:00 p.m., a co-production with The Redwood Theatre in Support of Daily Bread Food Bank. I talked to Alexander Hajek who sings the role of Marcello the painter. … Continue reading →

Posted in Interviews, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays | Tagged Alexander Hajek, Carmina Burana, classical-music, Daily Bread Food Bank, genre, Giacomo Puccini, La boheme, La Boheme On Tap, music, opera, Opera Revue, Puccini, Redwood Theatre, theatre | Leave a comment

Robert Lepage’s Macbeth at Stratford

Posted on September 6, 2025 by barczablog

Bruce asked me whether the Scottish play is worth seeing. I had seen it from the front row, able to see every detail of the complex presentation in the Avon Theatre, less Shakespeare’s immortal play than Robert Lepage’s Macbeth. YMMV … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Architecture & Design, Dance, theatre & musicals, Opera, Reviews | Tagged 887, Avon Theatre, Bertold Brecht, Bluebeard's Castle, Canadian Opera Company, Eonnagata, erwartung, Ex Machina, Gesamtkunstwerk, John Gzowski, Lucy Peacock, Macbeth, Needles and Opium, Richard Wagner, Robert Lepage, Stratford Festival, The Tempest, Tom McCamus, Verfremdungseffekt, William Shakespeare, YMMV | 2 Comments

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 →

Posted in Interviews, Music and musicology, Opera | Tagged art song, Bryn Terfel, classical-music, gender, Jean MacPhail, Jo Greenaway, Karina Bray, Medici International Music Competition, mezzo-soprano, music, Narmina Efendiyeva, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Ryan Harper, Songs of Travel | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera | Tagged Amy Moodie, Aria, audition, Cassandra Amorim, Chelsea Kolic, Christian Masucci Facchini, Hope United Church, Ivan Jovanovic, James Coole-Stevenson, Jeremy Scinocca, Joel Ricci, Johnathon Kirby, Joseph Adams, Kathryn Rose Johnston, Kcenia Koutorjevski, Lauren Estey Jovanovic, Lissy Meyerowitz, Nicole Whitney Dubinsky, Olivia Morton, opera, Ryan Hofman, Toronto Vocal Showcase | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged Andrea Ludwig, Andy Moro, Asitha Tennekoon, ATOM, Brian Current, Caitlin Wood, Cale Crowe, City Opera Vancouver, Continuum Ensemble, Evan Korbut, Gitxsan, Indigenous art, Indigenous Genocide, Koerner Hall, Marie Clements, Melody Courage, Michelle Lafferty, Missing, oratorio, Pacific Opera Victoria, Timothy Long, Toronto Summer Music | 1 Comment

Reflections from Stephen Bell, former COC chorister, Founder of Coffeeshop Film & Creative

Posted on June 16, 2025 by barczablog

Stephen Bell is an award winning filmmaker and visual designer based in Toronto. Videographer by day and opera singer by night, Stephen is the Founder of Coffeeshop Film & Creative. And on May 25th Stephen posted on Facebook that after … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Interviews, Opera | Tagged Angela Bell, Bardia Doust, Brahm Goldhamer, Canadian Opera Company, COC Chorus, Coffeeshop Film & Creative, digital content, Eric Moniz, Four Seasons Centre, La Maupin, Messiah/Complex, music, opera, OperaQ, passagio, Sandra Horst, Stephen Bell, Tenor, videographer, videography | Leave a comment

Interviewing soprano Lynn Isnar

Posted on June 4, 2025 by barczablog

Lynn Isnar is a soprano with a wonderful voice and stage presence who appears regularly in the Toronto, area. Lynn will be singing with the Toronto Concert Orchestra in July in a program titled “Romeo & Juliet” both as Gounod’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Interviews, Opera | Tagged Artun Miskciyan, Gary Sahsuvar, Lynn Isnar, Palais Royale, Romeo and Juliet, Toronto Concert Orchestra | Leave a comment