Category Archives: Reviews

Parkdale Peter Pan

Posted on June 3, 2012 by barczablog

Small is beautiful, especially if you embrace theatricality.  In a world of CGI, big budget special effects and body doubles, everything is possible on a grand scale.  If the willing suspension of disbelief that Coleridge described is an innate human … Continue reading →

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Contes pour enfants pas sages

Posted on May 30, 2012 by barczablog

Christopher Butterfield’s Contes pour enfants pas sages premiered in Toronto recently adapting Jacques Prévert’s 1947 collection of stories of the same name.  It’s a cycle adapted as musical theatre in a collaboration between Continuum Music, Choir 21 led by David … Continue reading →

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The Promised Land

Posted on May 27, 2012 by barczablog

Thank you Tafelmusik.  What took you so long? Tonight I heard Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir venture boldly into the 19th century, sounding very much like they belong there.  The program on this occasion consisted of Beethoven’s “Eroica” and … Continue reading →

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Essential Alcina

Posted on May 26, 2012 by barczablog

Alcina by Essential Opera was my second consecutive night of Händel, following my second viewing of the Canadian Opera Company’s unorthodox production of Semele.  I hope I can be forgiven for making comparisons, but I think it’s relevant given that Toronto Händel … Continue reading →

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Semele in my nose

Posted on May 25, 2012 by barczablog

I had another chance to see & hear and even smell Zhang Huan’s production of Semele at the Canadian Opera Company. Yes, Semele also smells good (and I’m not just saying that to make a feeble joke).  Before the curtain … Continue reading →

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Jane Archibald as Semele

Posted on May 12, 2012 by barczablog

You never can tell.  I would never have predicted which opera would be my favourite of the seven operas programmed this season by the Canadian Opera Company.  Both the adventurous staging and the consistently brilliant singing make Handel’s Semele by … Continue reading →

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Rheingold in person

Posted on May 6, 2012 by barczablog

While there’s still a controversy about Robert Lepage’s production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle at the Metropolitan Opera because some people don’t like it, it seems to be a success. I was at the Das Rheingold that opened the third cycle, … Continue reading →

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Two from Florence

Posted on April 27, 2012 by barczablog

The double bill of Zemlinsky’s A Florentine Tragedy with Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, currently being presented by the Canadian Opera Company, is a marriage made in heaven, a pair of complementary opposites who seem to belong together. They’re alike in some … Continue reading →

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Picasso in Toronto

Posted on April 25, 2012 by barczablog

When we come into contact with a great figure in the world of art we’re bound to be confronted with the great questions. What is art? What is culture & what is its relationship to citizenship & society? How should … Continue reading →

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Seek Haydn

Posted on April 23, 2012 by barczablog

At one time, the pathway to success for a virtuoso was simple. Sing what everyone else sings Sing it better than anyone …and by doing so, prove that you’re the best The game has changed.  I own several CDs that … Continue reading →

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