Category Archives: Personal ruminations & essays

As my mom approaches 100

Posted on June 26, 2021 by barczablog

I must explain the reason for my previous post telling my mom’s stories yesterday: because she was born in 1921. In other words, she’s approaching her one-hundredth birthday. She has had five children although one of them died very young. … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, My mother, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays, University life | 7 Comments

The Mission in 2021

Posted on June 21, 2021 by barczablog

It’s been a month of reflection for Canadians following the discovery of the remains of 215 children buried on the grounds of the Kamloops residential school, another discovery near Brandon residential school, and the possibility of more to come. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Architecture & Design, Cinema, video & DVDs, Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Personal ruminations & essays, Politics, Spirituality & Religion, University life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Silent Chorus Trope: Peter Hinton and Amélie Niermeyer

Posted on June 18, 2021 by barczablog

I’m trying to wrap my head around something. It first caught my eye in Peter Hinton’s Louis Riel in the 2017 Canadian Opera Company production. Hinton added a chorus of silent witnesses to the action, lending weight to the proceedings, … Continue reading →

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Karel Ančerl of the Toronto Symphony

Posted on May 17, 2021 by barczablog

While reading Hermione Lee’s account of Tom Stoppard’s childhood in Czechoslovakia I was reminded of Karel Ančerl, the Toronto Symphony’s conductor and music-director roughly fifty years ago. Before Kenneth Stoppard appears on the scene in Darjeeling India, marries Magda Sträussler, … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Music and musicology, Personal ruminations & essays | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Perryn Leech comes to the COC

Posted on April 28, 2021 by barczablog

I am disoriented. The end of April? Time for taxes, to plant & nurture the garden. And to renew my subscription to the Canadian Opera Company before the end of the month. But it’s so weird. Normally their new season … Continue reading →

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Baudelaire Bicentennial

Posted on April 10, 2021 by barczablog

I must be brief. How does one speak of the bicentennial of a poet such as Charles Baudelaire, born two hundred years ago on April 9th in 1821? how to find the right words,…? Some know him for his poetry, … Continue reading →

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Mr Smith wasn’t Born Yesterday

Posted on April 4, 2021 by barczablog

TV programming sometimes brings us serendipitous discoveries. TCM’s Good Friday offering was Mr Smith Goes to Washington. This morning we watched Born Yesterday. I never noticed how many similarities there are between the two films. An innocent recently come to … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Personal ruminations & essays, Politics, Popular music & culture, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Meditation with dog

Posted on March 15, 2021 by barczablog

My title might be an unconscious imitation of Tom Robbins’ Still-life with Woodpecker. Might? I suddenly felt the need to make a parenthetic google search. Tom Robbins. Is he still alive? And I see that he was born in 1932, … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, domestic & wild, Books & Literature, Cinema, video & DVDs, Dance, theatre & musicals, Personal ruminations & essays, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Techno-salvation, or a real Canadian Opera Company / National Ballet of Canada

Posted on March 7, 2021 by barczablog

The pandemic has offered a measure of clarity to the world of performing arts. Artists have been knocked for a loop by the lost pay due to gigs that couldn’t happen. Businesses are badly messed up by lost revenues, wondering … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Dance, theatre & musicals, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays | Leave a comment

Animals in the neighbourhood

Posted on February 20, 2021 by barczablog

Some things are very consistent, the same every year. That doesn’t mean that people notice, of course. When one has nowhere else to turn, there’s always the sky & the planet we inhabit. The manifestations of our celestial journey, the … Continue reading →

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