Category Archives: Reviews

Inside the box: fu-Gen’s Ching Chong Chinaman

Posted on March 14, 2013 by barczablog

Lauren Yee’s Ching Chong Chinaman is the latest offering from Toronto’s fu-Gen Theatre, a satirical  expose of the hypocrisy at the heart of the American Dream.  While there are some differences between the US & Canada, it’s a tale that could … Continue reading →

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Early Renaissance

Posted on March 12, 2013 by barczablog

There’s something magical about getting a glimpse of someone famous in their youth.  Seeing a great leader or film-star as a child, we recognize some of the qualities that will emerge, even as we see a version of that person … Continue reading →

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Time and Tide

Posted on March 6, 2013 by barczablog

Talisker Players offer the latest in a series  of investigations of the meaning of life.  What is it about this time of year?  I pondered it a bit the other day, musing on February-phobia.  In this country we’re driven in … Continue reading →

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Erlösung dem Erlöser

Posted on March 3, 2013 by barczablog

There have been many reviews published already, some in exquisite detail, so I assume that if you want to know about the new Metropolitan Opera Parsifal, the François Girard co-production with Opera Lyon (2012) & the Canadian Opera Company (TBA), … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Reviews, Spirituality & Religion | 4 Comments

Lost in the East

Posted on March 3, 2013 by barczablog

We always know our spatio-temporal co-ordinates with the help of satellite surveillance and assorted electronic devices.  When was the last time you were lost? Those of us with regular jobs go back and forth along the same streets.  From time … Continue reading →

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Akhnaten in Indiana

Posted on February 24, 2013 by barczablog

It’s late at night.  It’s intermission, as I watch Philip Glass’s opera Akhnaten from Jacobs School of Music, at Indiana University, Bloomington, conducted by Arthur Fagen, directed by Candace Evans, and live-streamed on my laptop.  This student production is very … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Reviews, University life | 7 Comments

Mozart’s last year

Posted on February 22, 2013 by barczablog

As usual, concerts by Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra & Baroque Chorus are exercises in creative programming.   Their latest (premiered last night, running until the weekend, and announced as completely sold out) isn’t simply a presentation of the Mozart Requiem, but a … Continue reading →

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For the Lisztomaniac

Posted on February 21, 2013 by barczablog

McLuhan’s dictum “the medium is the message” has some curious ramifications in the fourth dimension (the dimension of time). An archive gathered across any significant period will function not just as a record for the subject(s) portrayed in the images, … Continue reading →

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Ophelia revived

Posted on February 17, 2013 by barczablog

I’m a father with grown children.  I encountered Mary Pipher’s book Reviving Ophelia in the 1990s.  The title might give you an idea of what sort of book it is, and why I would have read it. Ophelia?  Collateral damage … Continue reading →

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Love’s Dark Shore

Posted on February 12, 2013 by barczablog

How apt that in the week of Valentine’s Day, between performances of Tristan und Isolde, a paean to love, that the Canadian Opera  Company should present a concert program titled “Love’s Dark Shore” in the Richard Bradshaw Auditorium.  We heard … Continue reading →

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