Category Archives: Reviews

A reception experiment: Lucia last night

Posted on May 10, 2013 by barczablog

I remember from Psych 100 that one of the ways scientists learned about the brain was from what they called natural experiments.  In the war, sometimes a man would suffer a catastrophic wound to part of his head, allowing scientists … Continue reading →

Posted in Essays, Psychology and perception, Reviews | 2 Comments

Full Circle: JT and The 20/20 Experience

Posted on May 10, 2013 by barczablog

I seem to have come full circle with Justin Timberlake.  An opera-loving friend of mine moaned that Justin Timberlake is among the “Time 100“, a list purporting to identify the 100 most influential people in the world.  I don’t think … Continue reading →

Posted in Popular music & culture, Reviews | Leave a comment

Toronto Opera Collaborative Le Cid

Posted on May 5, 2013 by barczablog

Tonight Toronto Opera Collaborative presented Massenet’s Le Cid, an opera that is outside the boundaries of what’s usually understood as the “standard repertoire” of operas one usually encounters in an opera house.  There’s a single piece that some might recognize, … Continue reading →

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Besame Opera

Posted on May 2, 2013 by barczablog

There’s lots of kissing in “Bésame Ópera”, the Spanish double bill from Opera 5 currently playing at Gallery 345.   Sometimes it’s even human beings doing it. I feel lucky that, by a curious coincidence, the new work in Monday’s … Continue reading →

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Farewell to the Queen

Posted on April 30, 2013 by barczablog

This afternoon we said goodbye to Queen of Puddings Music Theatre in the same manner we’ve known them, namely through yet another premiere of a new work. QPMT’s finale under the auspices of the Canadian Opera Company’s free noon-hour series … Continue reading →

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Déjà Egoyan

Posted on April 28, 2013 by barczablog

The title is ambiguous, meaning several things. I am writing again about an Egoyan, this time Atom, after two recent rhapsodic pieces about his sister (concert & CD review) Egoyan returns again to Strauss’s Salome, a modified revival of a … Continue reading →

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carried away on the crest of a wave

Posted on April 26, 2013 by barczablog

You may have seen the poster for carried away on the crest of a wave, David Yee’s new play that just opened at Tarragon Theatre, directed by Nina Lee Aquino..  The title hints at its subject, namely the tsunami that … Continue reading →

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Robert Carsen’s Dialogues des Carmelites

Posted on April 23, 2013 by barczablog

Premiered in 1997 at Nederlandse Opera, seen at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and La Scala in Milan, Robert Carsen’s production of Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmelites is better than a new production, because it’s an acclaimed classic.  And now … Continue reading →

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Stephen Bell: Kojuigatsus – longing for home

Posted on April 22, 2013 by barczablog

“Longing for home” is a phrase that resonates in North America, where everyone—immigrant or aboriginal—is in some sense displaced.  As a child born in Canada of Hungarian parents I am in a funny place, loyal to the old country of … Continue reading →

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Egoyan: teaching us how to hear

Posted on April 20, 2013 by barczablog

I was certainly ready for the concert I attended tonight at Glenn Gould studio, to launch Eve Egoyans CD 5 .  Work had drained me, and yes, i’d been listening to her CD a great deal. I found myself thinking … Continue reading →

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