Category Archives: Reviews

She Holds up the Stars from Red Sky & Toronto Symphony

Posted on April 20, 2026 by barczablog

In a week of adaptations, the trip to Roy Thomson Hall to see & hear the world premiere of She Holds Up the Stars from the Toronto Symphony & Red Sky Performance on Sunday April 19th was a fabulous case … Continue reading →

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Opera Atelier present their new Pelléas et Mélisande

Posted on April 16, 2026 by barczablog

Wednesday night saw the premiere of Pelléas et Mélisande in a new orchestration by Christopher Bagan, conducted by David Fallis at Koerner Hall. Opera Atelier commissioned Bagan to reduce the scope of Debussy’s opera from a post-Wagnerian orchestra (70 + … Continue reading →

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Toronto Symphony play Béla Bartók’s Miraculous Mandarin

Posted on April 12, 2026 by barczablog

Toronto Symphony recently released their third Harmonia Mundi live recording, captured from performances 21-23 November 2024 at Roy Thomson Hall, featuring two works by Béla Bartók (1881-1945) plus a piece by Canadian Emilie Cecilia LeBel. Roy Thomson Hall’s acoustics seem … Continue reading →

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Tafelmusik present Influencers without shoehorns or pigeonholes

Posted on April 11, 2026 by barczablog

Influencers is the anachronistic title for Tafelmusik’s concert program this week at Jeanne Lamon Hall. I’m reminded of the way Richard Strauss put Viennese waltzes into Der Rosenkavalier, a modern dance-form that didn’t really fit the time of the story, … Continue reading →

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Room of Keys with David James Brock and Adam Sherkin playing Béla Bartók

Posted on April 10, 2026 by barczablog

Room of Keys is a sort of sacred mystery play. I don’t throw that M word out there in the spirit of a whodunnit so much as the old sacred pre-Shakespearean plays that would stage a small Biblical episode. No … Continue reading →

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French Meditations take Scarborough Philharmonic to new heights

Posted on March 29, 2026 by barczablog

When someone improves, you may wonder why. Listening to Scarborough Philharmonic’s “French Meditations” concert Saturday night I wondered: is it the leadership, is it the players, is it their choice of music? whatever factors came into play, this was the … Continue reading →

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Cyclops on the edge

Posted on March 29, 2026 by barczablog

I have just seen Cyclops: A Satyr Play, Produced by Panic Theatre in association with Talk is Free Theatre, Written, Directed and Performed by Griffin Hewitt, with Original Music by Juliette Jones. If I said it’s Euripides’ only surviving Satyr … Continue reading →

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JS Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and JS Vallée

Posted on March 27, 2026 by barczablog

Wednesday March 25th I attended the concluding performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St Matthew Passion at Koerner Hall by the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and the TMC Baroque Orchestra led by Jean-Sébastien Vallée. This massive work is the perfect celebration of … Continue reading →

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Ugly crying at Yuval Sharon’s brilliant Tristan und Isolde from the Metropolitan Opera

Posted on March 23, 2026 by barczablog

Saturday March 21st I was among the viewers in a Scarborough Cineplex watching and listening to the Metropolitan Opera high definition broadcast of Tristan und Isolde directed by Yuval Sharon, conducted by Yannick Nezet-Seguin. At least as far as the … Continue reading →

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Nathan Sawaya’s ART OF THE BRICK

Posted on March 13, 2026 by barczablog

The Art of the Brick show has now come to Toronto as of today March 12th. Nathan Sawaya is the artist. Yes I want to call his creations “art” and yes he is an artist, working with LEGO blocks and … Continue reading →

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