-
Recent Posts
Subjects
- Animals, domestic & wild
- Art, Architecture & Design
- Books & Literature
- Cinema, video & DVDs
- Dance, theatre & musicals
- Essays
- Food, Health and Nutrition
- guest blog
- Interviews
- Music and musicology
- My mother
- Opera
- Personal ruminations & essays
- Politics
- Popular music & culture
- Press Releases and Announcements
- Psychology and perception
- Reviews
- Spirituality & Religion
- Sports
- University life
- Against the Grain Theatre
- Alexander Neef
- Allyson McHardy
- Ambur Braid
- Barbara Hannigan
- Beethoven
- Benjamin Britten
- Canadian Opera Company
- Canadian Stage
- Carla Huhtanen
- classical-music
- Claude Debussy
- Colin Ainsworth
- Crow's Theatre
- Das Rheingold
- David Fallis
- Felix Mendelssohn
- Four Seasons Centre
- Franz Liszt
- Franz Schubert
- Frederic Chopin
- George Frideric Handel
- Giacomo Puccini
- Giuseppe Verdi
- Glenn Gould
- Guillermo Silva-Marin
- Gustav Mahler
- Gustavo Gimeno
- Handel
- Hector Berlioz
- Ivars Taurins
- Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg
- Joel Ivany
- Johannes Debus
- John Adams
- Jonathan Crow
- Koerner Hall
- Ludwig van Beethoven
- Marshall Pynkoski
- Maurice Ravel
- Meghan Lindsay
- Messiah
- Metropolitan Opera
- Mireille Asselin
- Mozart
- music
- opera
- Opera Atelier
- Pelleas et Melisande
- Peter Oundjian
- Philip Glass
- piano
- Puccini
- Richard Strauss
- Richard Wagner
- Robert Carsen
- Robert Lepage
- Roy Thomson Hall
- Russell Braun
- Sky Gilbert
- Sondra Radvanovsky
- Stewart Goodyear
- Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra
- Tapestry Opera
- theatre
- Toronto Mendelssohn Choir
- Toronto Operetta Theatre
- Toronto Summer Music
- Toronto Symphony
- Toronto Symphony Orchestra
- Tristan und Isolde
- University of Toronto
- Wagner
- William Shakespeare
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Archives
- January 2026
- December 2025
- November 2025
- October 2025
- September 2025
- August 2025
- July 2025
- June 2025
- May 2025
- April 2025
- March 2025
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
Meta
-
Join 384 other subscribers
Category Archives: Opera
Finding out about Maghan McPhee, soprano
Sometimes interviews are just a series of obvious questions designed to publicize an artist and their work. I’m happy to play that game. But there are times when I’ve been fascinated by what I’ve seen from an artist, my curiosity … Continue reading
John Holland’s unexpected polemic in The Lost Tradition of Dvořák’s Operas
When I started reading John Holland’s new book, I didn’t expect it to be more than a study of a composer and his operas. That modest goal would already be significant, considering the cognitive dissonance I feel whenever the plural … Continue reading
Questions for Tammy Wilson
Tamara Wilson is one of the best singers in the world. Yes we import Europeans to sing opera but some Americans have no equal. We’re lucky to have heard that voice in Toronto, usually the most impressive sound in that … Continue reading
Posted in Interviews, Opera
Tagged Aida, COVID, Die Fledermaus, Giuseppe Verdi, Isolde, Kenan Thompson, Richard Wagner, saturday night live, Savannah Bananas, Tamara Wilson, Turandot
Leave a comment
30 years since Derek Jarman died.
It’s the anniversary of Derek Jarman’s passing, February 19th 1994. He was 52 years old when he passed. I was looking at Jarman’s IMDB entry, where there are a pair of pictures with him with Amy Johnson, listed on IMDB … Continue reading
X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X from the Metropolitan Opera for February and Lent
The Metropolitan Opera’s 2023 production of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, the 1985 opera with libretto by Thulani Davis and music be her cousin Anthony Davis, was shown on PBS over the past week, likely as a … Continue reading
Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays, Spirituality & Religion
Tagged Anthony Davis, Elijah Mohammed, hajj, John Elford, Malcolm X, Mecca, Metropolitan Opera Company, Nation of Islam, Our Hearts Were Strangely Lukewarm, PBS, Porgy and Bess, Sporting Life, Thulani Davis, White Supremacy, X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X
Leave a comment
Questions for Jack Hui Litster in anticipation of his Gates of Heaven: Requiem for a Life of Peace
Jack Hui Litster has recently had two original operas produced by OperOttawa. Jack is a multi-instrumentalist and composer of concert music and film and TV score based in Ottawa, blending his classical and popular music training. As Composer-in-Residence for OperOttawa, Jack … Continue reading
Posted in Interviews, Music and musicology, Opera, Popular music & culture
Tagged Gates of Heaven: Requiem for a Life of Peace, Inter Pares, Jack Hui Litster, Kahlil Gibran, King Arthur, Norman E Brown, OperOttawa, Requiem, Tan Dun, The Day You Were Born, The First Emperor, The Prophet, What Is Love?
Leave a comment
Scary Don Giovanni at the COC
Well it’s about time! I’ve been watching productions of Mozart’s Don Giovanni all my life that end with some sort of ludicrous & unbelievable encounter between the anti-hero and his fake stone guest, who comes to drag him to hell. … Continue reading
Posted in Opera, Reviews
Tagged Ben Bliss, Canadian Opera Company, Don Giovanni, English National Opera, Es Devlin, Four Seasons Centre, Gordon Bintner, Joel Allison, Johannes Debus, Kasper Holten, Lorenzo Da Ponte, Luke Halls, Mane Galovan, Paolo Bordogna, Perryn Leech, Simone McIntosh, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Leave a comment
Stunning Vixen from Canadian Opera Company
The Canadian Opera Company are currently presenting Leos Janacek’s opera The Cunning Little Vixen. This flamboyantly theatrical production is among the most colourful things I’ve ever seen on a stage. Vixen is suitable for children and makes a terrific first … Continue reading
Posted in Animals, domestic & wild, Opera, Reviews
Tagged Adam Luther, Alex Halliday, Brechtian, Canadian Children’s Opera Company, Canadian Opera Company, Carolyn Sproule, Christopher Purves, Cunning Little Vixen, Czech Music, Ema Nikolovska, English National Opera, Jamie Manton, Jane Archibald, Johannes Debus, Leos Janacek, Tom Scutt
Leave a comment
barczablog 