Category Archives: Politics

Hinton’s Riel: protocols for reconciliation

Posted on April 21, 2017 by barczablog

When I look back at my childhood, the way the word “Indian” was used and abused, I can barely recognize where we were and where we’ve come. The past two years have been especially transformative, with the Truth & Reconciliation … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Politics, Reviews | 3 Comments

Questions for Peter Hinton concerning his Revisionist Riel

Posted on April 20, 2017 by barczablog

Director, dramaturg and playwright Peter Hinton has worked across Canada with many theatre companies. He has been the Associate Artistic Director at Theatre Passe Muraille and the Canadian Stage Company in Toronto, Artistic Director of the Playwrights Theatre Centre in … Continue reading →

Posted in Interviews, Opera, Politics | 3 Comments

Questions for Howard J. Davis: C’est Moi

Posted on April 16, 2017 by barczablog

Howard J. Davis is a Toronto based filmmaker, the director of C’est Moi, a short film shot on location, about Marie-Josèphe Angelique, a young slave who was tried, tortured and killed for allegedly burning down the city of Montreal. Howard … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Interviews, Politics | Leave a comment

Dialogue on use of Indigenous Songs in Canadian Compositions, hosted by COC

Posted on April 12, 2017 by barczablog

In a press release, the Canadian Opera Company have announced a closed meeting on April 19th –the eve of the premiere of their new co-production of Louis Riel—to discuss “First Nations song protocol and the use of Indigenous songs in … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Personal ruminations & essays, Politics, Press Releases and Announcements | 2 Comments

Robert Lepage speaks white in 887

Posted on April 8, 2017 by barczablog

Although I missed Robert Lepage’s 887 the first time it came to Toronto in 2015 (during the Pan Am Games) I’m glad I was able to see it today with Canadian Stage at the Bluma Appel, in a short run … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Opera, Politics | 3 Comments

Kommunisten: Straub sans Huillet

Posted on March 29, 2017 by barczablog

TIFF have been presenting “Not Reconciled”: which is both the epithet attached to this powerful retrospective and the first film from the uncompromising collaborative team Danièle Huillet and her husband Jean-Marie Straub. Tonight we ventured into a very dark, place, … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Politics, Reviews | 1 Comment

Beyond Reason: Wagner contra Nietzsche

Posted on March 25, 2017 by barczablog

I finished my previous book last night (They Can’t Kill Us All). I began the review of that fascinating book—filled with the keen-eyed observations of Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery—by a kind of apologetic preamble about my life in fantasyland, … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Opera, Politics | 1 Comment

They Can’t Kill Us All

Posted on March 25, 2017 by barczablog

I may seem to lead a divided life, vanishing into realms of violins and sopranos, opera and oratorio, without much apparent connection to the struggles of people in the 21st century: with the possible exception of the singers trying to … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Politics | 2 Comments

Schönberg and Sicilia: two more from Straub /Huillet

Posted on March 18, 2017 by barczablog

Tonight’s installment of TIFF’s retrospective “Not Reconciled: the films of  Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet” must have seemed like a remarkable opportunity to James Quandt and the team assembling the schedule.  Each film is almost exactly an hour long, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Politics, Reviews | 5 Comments

Too Early/Too Late: you say you want a revolution?

Posted on March 17, 2017 by barczablog

Too Early/Too Late (1980), the latest installment in “Not Reconciled“, TIFF’s Straub-Huillet retrospective, is aptly titled for at least a couple of reasons.  As a study of revolutions co-opted or hijacked by others, the title is about timing.  But the … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Politics, Reviews | 1 Comment