Category Archives: Reviews

A seriously playful TSO program

Posted on October 5, 2024 by barczablog

The search for fun can be a serious pursuit. Play is the operative word for a Toronto Symphony program titled “Spirited Overtures:” Gioachino Rossini–Overture to The Barber of SevilleIgor Stravinsky–Jeu de cartes (Card Game)–intermission–Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart–Violin Concerto No. 3 in … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged Barber of Seville, Bugs Bunny, Claude Debussy, Die Fledermaus, George Weston Recital Hall, Gioachino Rossini, Gustavo Gimeno, Igor Stravinsky, Jeu de cartes, Jeux, Johann Strauss Jr, Renaud Capuçon, Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Leave a comment

Picture this: challenging showcase as TSO season-opening concert

Posted on September 29, 2024 by barczablog

The concert was titled “Pictures at an Exhibition.” Roy Thomson Hall was full Saturday night for a fun evening at the Toronto Symphony. It was a showcase for the TSO. Music Director Gustavo Gimeno’s program notes suggest that he was … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged Carlos Simon, Felix Mendelssohn, Gustavo Gimeno, Jan Lisiecki, Jonathan Crow, Joseph Johnson, Ludwig van Beethoven, Mark Williams, Maurice Ravel, Modeste Mussorsky, Roy Thompson Hall, Sergei Gorchakov, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, TSO, Wake Up! | 4 Comments

Tafelmusik get Podger who gets Mozart

Posted on September 28, 2024 by barczablog

As I look at this stylish picture of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart I wonder. Through the decades I have been listening to his music there are a variety of approaches, sometimes so respectful as to put Mozart on an impossible pedestal. … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged Koerner Hall, Rachel Podger, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, William Shatner, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | 3 Comments

Pickle Theatre staged reading of Venus in Fur

Posted on September 22, 2024 by barczablog

As M John Kennedy explained it to me before the show, they had to fill in a space on the application form they completed for their production of David Ives’ Venus in Fur, identifying the name of their company. “Pickle … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Personal ruminations & essays, Reviews | Tagged Annex Theatre, Dahlia Katz, Erynn Brook, Leopold Sacher-Masoch, M. John Kennedy, meta-theatre, Pickle Theatre, Roman Polanski, Venus in Fur, Venus in Furs | Leave a comment

Unexpected light in 1939

Posted on September 21, 2024 by barczablog

Last night I watched 1939, a recent play by Jani Lauzon and Kaitlyn Riordan at Berkeley St Theatre, a brilliant snapshot of the madness of residential schools and resilience in response. It’s a Canadian Stage and Belfry theatre joint production … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Reviews | Tagged 1939, Belfry Theatre, Brefny Caribou, Canadian Stage, Canadian Stage Company, Catherine Fitch, Cree, Grace Lamarche, Indigenous, Jani Lauzon, John Wamsley, Kaitlyn Riordan, Merewyn Comeau, Mohawk, Nathan Howe, Ojibwe, Richard Comeau, Stratford Festival, William Shakespeare | Leave a comment

Nick Hamm nixes Will Tell ham

Posted on September 13, 2024 by barczablog

My headline is not just a nod to “Sticks Nix Hick Pix”. There truly was no ham to see in the gala World Premiere of William Tell, unless we include the man who wrote and directed, namely Nick Hamm speaking … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Cinema, video & DVDs, Reviews | Tagged Ben Kingsley, Claes Bang, Friedrich Schiller, Gioachino Rossini, Jonathan Pryce, Nick Hamm, Rosmersholm, Steven Price, The Sound of Music, William Tell | Leave a comment

Fresh Rosmersholm at Crow’s Theatre

Posted on September 12, 2024 by barczablog

You sometimes hear people tell you that a play from another century seems to speak directly to our own time. Last night watching Duncan Macmillan’s new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s Rosmersholm at Crow’s Theatre directed by Chris Abraham was the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Dance, theatre & musicals, Reviews | Tagged Beau Dixon, Ben Carlson, Chris Abraham, Crow's Theatre, Diego Matamoros, Diego Matamoros) and with the sensitivity of director Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu, Duncan Macmillan, Guloien Theatre, Henrik Ibsen, Jonathan Young, Kate Hennig, Rosmersholm, Thomas Ryder Payne, Virgilia Griffith | Leave a comment

Beethoven Unleashed by TSM

Posted on August 2, 2024 by barczablog

Last night’s final 2024 Toronto Summer Music Festival concert at Koerner Hall, titled Beethoven Unleashed, featured the violin concerto and the Eroica Symphony, a perfect snapshot of TSM at its best. TSM combines the educational objectives of an academy and a showcase … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged Jonathan Crow, Joseph Johnson, Kerson Leong, Koerner Hall, Ludwig van Beethoven, Simon Rivard, Toronto Summer Music, Toronto Summer Music Academy, Toronto Summer Music Festival | Leave a comment

Dreams and Shadows at TSM

Posted on July 30, 2024 by barczablog

A good pre-concert introduction from the artist can make a big impact. Last night’s Toronto Summer Music Concert by pianist Philip Chiu with violinist & TSM artistic director Jonathan Crow at Walter Hall was sold out. Titled “Dreams and Shadows” … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged Elizabeth Raum, Johannes Brahms, Jonathan Crow, Jules Massenet, Juno, Kaija Saariaho, Matching campaign, Philip Chiu, Sergei Prokofiev, Toronto Summer Music, Violin Sonatas, Walter Hall | Leave a comment

Gimeno’s Mahler: reconciling Nietzsche, angels and pantheism

Posted on June 13, 2024 by barczablog

If that headline sounds like a mouthful you should hear Mahler’s 3rd Symphony. I just did tonight at Roy Thomson Hall. The Toronto Symphony led by music director Gustavo Gimeno aided by members of the Mendelssohn Choir, the Toronto Children’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged Also Sprach Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche, Gerhild Romberger, Gustav Mahler, Gustavo Gimeno, Toronto Children's Chorus, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Toronto Symphony Orchestra | Leave a comment