Category Archives: Reviews

Shore’s Fellowship

Posted on December 3, 2016 by barczablog

The Toronto Symphony, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, The Canadian Children’s Opera Company in partnership with tiff presented a concert performance of Howard Shore’s score for The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of Peter Jackson’s Tolkien films. If you think … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | 2 Comments

Filament Incubator – Paradise Comics

Posted on November 30, 2016 by barczablog

It sounds challenging, this objective of Filament Incubator to produce eight plays in eight months and as far as I can tell they pulled it off. How difficult is it? To put it in context, you’d have to look at … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Reviews | Leave a comment

Sir Andrew Davis’s big beautiful Messiah: on Chandos

Posted on November 26, 2016 by barczablog

Last year the Toronto Symphony revived a new concert edition of Handel’s Messiah, first heard in 2010, created by their conductor laureate Sir Andrew Davis. At the time of the December 2015 concerts I declared that I wanted to hear … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | 3 Comments

Chaotic Dollhouse all too real

Posted on November 19, 2016 by barczablog

Here’s what I found on the Coleman Lemieux website concerning Dollhouse, their new work currently being presented by Canadian Stage: Dollhouse is a work created for galleries, cross-disciplinary exhibitions, music centres, theatres, and all manner of other places of learning … Continue reading →

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Looking back across the Bridge to the Future

Posted on November 18, 2016 by barczablog

It was a concert to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution as well as the 135th Anniversary of the Birth of Béla Bartók, presented by CHAMP: the Canadian Hungarian Association for Music Performance. While the title of the … Continue reading →

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Naomi’s Road leads to Toronto

Posted on November 17, 2016 by barczablog

Tonight I saw Naomi’s Road, an opera with libretto by Ann Hodges & music composed by Ramona Luengen, based on a novel by Joy Kogawa, to open Tapestry Opera’s 2016-17 season. Tapestry Artistic Director explained before the show’s presentation at … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews | 1 Comment

Berlin Philharmonic, Rattle, Boulez & Mahler

Posted on November 16, 2016 by barczablog

Tonight was the first of two concerts by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra presented at Roy Thomson Hall. I think this is the closest I’ve seen to “full” in the space, as every seat appeared to be occupied, and no wonder. … Continue reading →

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Perlman’s Cinema Serenade: vol 1 & 2

Posted on November 14, 2016 by barczablog

You think you know someone, what they’re all about, and what they really like. That can be true of your friends, or of famous artists, where they surprise you with a hidden dimension, an unexpected interest. I thought I knew … Continue reading →

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

Ayre: An Evening of Osvaldo Golijov

Posted on November 11, 2016 by barczablog

When the organizational wizards of Against the Grain Theatre decided to present Ayre: An Evening of Osvaldo Golijov beginning November 10th I doubt that anyone recognized the significance of the date.  Had the American electorate made their expected repudiation of … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Personal ruminations & essays, Reviews | 1 Comment

Farewell Norma

Posted on November 6, 2016 by barczablog

I had another look at the Canadian Opera Company’s Norma tonight, the closing performance of their fall season. It was both a chance to get a closer look as well as to see a slightly different cast. Elza van den … Continue reading →

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