Category Archives: Reviews

Orfeo and the power of music

Posted on May 28, 2018 by barczablog

David Fallis’s tenure as the Artistic Director of the Toronto Consort ended with today’s final concert performance of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, one of the most elaborate presentations I’ve ever seen from this group. Don’t get me wrong. We were still in … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews | Tagged Bud Roach, Charles Daniels, Claudio Monteverdi, Cory Knight, David Fallis, David Roth, Jeanne Lamon, Katherine Hill, Kevin Skelton, Laura Pudwell, Michele DeBoer, Orfeo, Toronto Consort | 1 Comment

Laird’s new Leonard Bernstein biography

Posted on May 27, 2018 by barczablog

2018 is the centennial of Leonard Bernstein’s birth, as I’ve mentioned in reviewing recent commemorative performances of Candide by TIFT, TOT and the TSO. Anniversaries usually trigger a flood of books as well. I’ve just read one of them cover … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Music and musicology, Popular music & culture, Reviews | Tagged Leonard Bernstein, Paul R Laird | 1 Comment

Keri Alkema: A Journey of Transformation

Posted on May 22, 2018 by barczablog

Today’s noon-hour recital at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre aka the foyer of the Four Seasons Centre was unlike any we’ve seen before. Readers of this blog may recall that I’ve expressed my admiration for Keri Alkema in my reviews of … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews | Tagged Desdemona, Don Giovanni, Donizetti, Donna Elvira, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Keri Alkema, madama butterfly, mezzo-soprano, Otello, Rachel Andrist, Sondra Radvanovsky, Un ballo in maschera, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | 1 Comment

All –Beethoven Tafelmusik Finale

Posted on May 4, 2018 by barczablog

Tonight’s programme from Tafelmusik was the first of their season-ending concerts at Koerner Hall. We heard Beethoven’s violin concerto & the Pastorale symphony. Thinking about moustaches & tears earlier this week, it felt serendipitous to be studying the same sort … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Psychology and perception, Reviews | Tagged Beethoven, Bruno Weil, Elisa Citterio, Koerner Hall, Pastoral Symphony, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Violin concerto | 2 Comments

Anna Bolena: saving the best for last

Posted on April 29, 2018 by barczablog

Sondra Radvanovsky is the story. There is no better singing in an opera in Toronto than what you’ll hear if you go see Anna Bolena with the Canadian Opera Company, and she’s not the only great voice. I can talk … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Reviews | Tagged Allyson McHardy, Anna Bolena, Benoit Dugardyn, Bruce Sledge, Canadian Opera Company, Christian Van Horn, Corrado Rovaris, Gaetano Donizetti, Ingeborg Bernerth, Keri Alkema, Sandra Horst, Sondra Radvanovsky | 5 Comments

Against the Grain Orphée+

Posted on April 28, 2018 by barczablog

Orphée+? That plus sign might signify an opera updated, enlarged, perhaps even reformed(?). The “+” means some remarkable additions and changes from Gluck’s original, Orphée et Eurydice (or the Italian version aka Orfeo ed Euridice). Gluck created more than one … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Opera, Popular music & culture, Reviews | Tagged aerials, Against the Grain Theatre, Barbara Hannigan, burlesque, John Gzowski, Marcy Richardson, Mireille Asselin, Opera Columbus, Robert Carsen, S Katy Tucker, Siman Chung, Topher Mokrzewski | 2 Comments

Candide with the Toronto Symphony: using our imaginations

Posted on April 27, 2018 by barczablog

Tonight was the first of two concert performances of Candide presented by the Toronto Symphony at Roy Thomson Hall in the worldwide celebration of Leonard Bernstein’s centennial year. Earlier this week Joseph So was rapturous in his description of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews | Tagged Bramwell Tovey, Candide, Cunegonde, Glitter and be gay, Judith Forst, Leonard Bernstein, Nicholas Phan, Richard Suart, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Tracy Dahl | 5 Comments

Ulysses comes home

Posted on April 22, 2018 by barczablog

Opera Atelier’s Revival of Monteverdi’s The Return of Ulysses (1640) starts slowly but builds to a strong finish. By intermission I had enjoyed a few moments (Kresimir Spicer in the title role and Mireille Lebel as Penelope, and Meghan Lindsay … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews | Tagged Carla Huhtanen, Charles Daniels, Christopher Enns, David Fallis, Douglas Williams, Kresimir Spicer, Laura Pudwell, Marshall Pynkoski, Meghan Lindsay, Mireille Lebel, Monteverdi, Opera Atelier, Return of Ulysses, Tafelmusik Orchestra | 1 Comment

I love dogs & The Post

Posted on April 21, 2018 by barczablog

Living through the daily assault upon one’s sensibility leads one to take protective measures. Whatever does get you through the night? I vacillate between truth and escapism. Truth consists of various sorts of political content, whether on a news network … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, domestic & wild, Cinema, video & DVDs, Politics, Reviews | Tagged Grand Budapest Hotel, Gustav Mahler, Isle of Dogs, James Comey, John Williams, Meryl Streep, Stephen Spielberg, The Royal Tenenbaums, Tim Burton, Tom Hanks, Wes Anderson | 1 Comment

The Nightingale is back

Posted on April 15, 2018 by barczablog

There’s another signature production for the Canadian Opera Company. At one time it was Robert Lepage’s double bill of Bluebeard’s Castle & Erwartung but I think a more recent Lepage opus has at least joined it, if not taken its … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Reviews | 1 Comment