Category Archives: Reviews

Churchill – Darkest Hour

Posted on February 26, 2018 by barczablog

2017 may be remembered as a year that two movies gave us detailed portraits of Winston Churchill. Darkest Hour is the one you’re probably aware of, starring Gary Oldman in an Oscar-nominated performance.  But I stumbled on another one with … Continue reading →

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

Vanderdecken among the zombies: Wajdi Mouawad’s Abduction

Posted on February 25, 2018 by barczablog

I had a second look & listen to Wajdi Mouawad’s Abduction from the Seraglio,  my second time coming in the closing performance of the run with the Canadian Opera Company at the Four Seasons Centre. I wanted to reflect on what … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays, Reviews, University life | 5 Comments

Admiring Alexander’s Feast

Posted on February 24, 2018 by barczablog

It was a happy celebration of the birthday of George Frideric Handel at Koerner Hall tonight, feasting on the bounty that is Alexander’s Feast, one of the Dryden odes for St Cecilia’s Day, celebrating the power of music.  Thank goodness … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | 2 Comments

Know Thyself, a lesson from Jane Archibald

Posted on February 21, 2018 by barczablog

Today I sat in a very good seat to hear Jane Archibald sing and she sang very well.  I am a very lucky guy. She doesn’t need my review to validate her (ha, but then does any artist?). This is … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews | Leave a comment

The Wizard of Oz live with the TSO

Posted on February 18, 2018 by barczablog

For the past few years the Toronto Symphony have given us opportunities to see well-known movies with live orchestral accompaniment: Vertigo Psycho Back to the Future The Fellowship of the Ring I don’t pretend to understand how all the necessary … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Music and musicology, Reviews | Leave a comment

Aeris Chordas

Posted on February 17, 2018 by barczablog

“Aeris Chordas” is the name for the concert I saw tonight, chamber music from four artists: Christina Raphaëlle Haldane, soprano Carl Philippe Gionet, piano Michelle Jacot, clarinet Marc Labranche, cello The four composers I saw on the program: Johannes Brahms … Continue reading →

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Abduction via Mouawad

Posted on February 11, 2018 by barczablog

It’s another new Canadian Opera Company production where my first impulse is to credit the brass running the COC. But in a week when the big news for North American opera was the second artistic directorship undertaken by Alexander Neef, … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Reviews | 2 Comments

Karam’s Humans

Posted on February 9, 2018 by barczablog

This co-production of The Humans, Stephen Karam’s 2016 Tony Award winner from Citadel Theatre & Canadian Stage has come to the Bluma Appel Theatre.   We are functioning in real time for about an hour and a half of a Thanksgiving … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Reviews | 5 Comments

Frisch takes us Over the Rainbow

Posted on February 2, 2018 by barczablog

Sometimes we read a book to learn something, to discover answers to questions. And sometimes we read simply to get lost in the conversation. Walter Frisch is taking me on one of those latter sorts of journeys in his 2017 … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Personal ruminations & essays, Popular music & culture, Reviews | Leave a comment

Rigoletto reboot

Posted on January 28, 2018 by barczablog

I like the Canadian Opera Company’s Rigoletto, directed by Christopher Alden, starring Roland Wood, Anna Christy and Stephen Costello. Everyone I’ve talked to enthuses about the singing. Ah but I like the production, and I say this, aware (via social … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Reviews | 8 Comments