Category Archives: Spirituality & Religion

Missing comes east to Toronto

Posted on July 25, 2025 by barczablog

Toronto Summer Music presented a single concert performance of the opera Missing, from a libretto by Marie Clements and a score by Brian Current, to a full Koerner Hall. This was its first appearance in Eastern Canada after having been … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged Andrea Ludwig, Andy Moro, Asitha Tennekoon, ATOM, Brian Current, Caitlin Wood, Cale Crowe, City Opera Vancouver, Continuum Ensemble, Evan Korbut, Gitxsan, Indigenous art, Indigenous Genocide, Koerner Hall, Marie Clements, Melody Courage, Michelle Lafferty, Missing, oratorio, Pacific Opera Victoria, Timothy Long, Toronto Summer Music | 1 Comment

Our Hearts Were Strangely Lukewarm actually warmed my heart

Posted on December 7, 2024 by barczablog

Book titles can be funny. I didn’t really understand what John Elford’s book was doing when I saw the cover. But then again I suppose that’s why we read books, to answer the questions they pose. Sometimes art functions as … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Politics, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged Annie Jacobsen, apes on a treadmill, Christianity, Ennio Morricone, faith, Fat Man and Little Boy, history, Internment camps, J Robert Oppenheimer, john-wesley, Leslie Groves, methodism, Methodist Church, Military Industrial Complex, Nuclear War: A Scenario, Our Hearts Were Strangely Lukewarm, Paul Newman, Racing for the Bomb, Reverend John Elford, Robert S Norris, Roland Joffé, White Supremacy | 1 Comment

X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X from the Metropolitan Opera for February and Lent

Posted on February 14, 2024 by barczablog

The Metropolitan Opera’s 2023 production of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, the 1985 opera with libretto by Thulani Davis and music be her cousin Anthony Davis, was shown on PBS over the past week, likely as a … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged Anthony Davis, Elijah Mohammed, hajj, John Elford, Malcolm X, Mecca, Metropolitan Opera Company, Nation of Islam, Our Hearts Were Strangely Lukewarm, PBS, Porgy and Bess, Sporting Life, Thulani Davis, White Supremacy, X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X | Leave a comment

Remembrance Day lessons from Mr Bull and Barkley

Posted on November 12, 2023 by barczablog

I played the organ at Hillcrest Church last Sunday. Some years All Saints (November 1st) and Remembrance Day (November 11th) get separate commemorations. In 2023 Remembrance Day (Nov 11th) falls on a Saturday, making it logical to combine the All … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, domestic & wild, Music and musicology, Personal ruminations & essays, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged Barkley, Eternal Father Strong to Save, For All the Saints, Hillcrest Church, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Remembrance Day, Stewart H Bull, University of Toronto Schools | 4 Comments

Blithe Spirits

Posted on September 6, 2023 by barczablog

Hmm: another trip to Shaw, another ghost story. Last time it was Wharton’s The Shadow of a Doubt. “Shadow” is another word for spirit, right in the title. This past weekend Erika and I went to see Blithe Spirit at … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Cinema, video & DVDs, Dance, theatre & musicals, Reviews, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged Bert Lahr, Blithe Spirit, Constance Cummings, Damien Atkins, Dan Stevens, David Lean, Donna Soares, Edith Wharton, Edward Hall, Isla Fisher, Jenny Wright, Judd Apatow, Judi Dench, Julia Course, Kay Hammond, Leslie Mann, Margaret Rutherford, Mike Payette, Rex Harrison, Richard Addinsell, Shaw Festival, The Shadow of a Doubt | Leave a comment

Resurrection Again

Posted on April 10, 2023 by barczablog

Handel’s oratorio The Resurrection received its belated Canadian premiere in Opera Atelier’s production brought to Koerner Hall, an early work long neglected. Although the production had been prepared in 2021 it had to be filmed because in-person performance wasn’t possible … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Opera, Reviews, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged Allyson McHardy, Carla Huhtanen, Colin Ainsworth, David Fallis, Douglas Williams, George Frideric Handel, Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg, Koerner Hall, Marshall Pynkoski, Meghan Lindsay, Opera Atelier, Resurrection, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra | Leave a comment

Being Legendary at the ROM: Kent Monkman confronts Colonialism and rethinks History

Posted on March 31, 2023 by barczablog

Kent Monkman’s current show Being Legendary at the Royal Ontario Museum continues for a couple of weeks more until April 16th. Art Canada Institute have created a book that helps preserve the show and its impact. I’ve been pondering the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Architecture & Design, Books & Literature, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged Being Legendary, Going Away Song, Indigenous art, Indigenous Genocide, Kent Monkman, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, Royal Ontario Museum, The Escape, The Sparrow | Leave a comment

Glorious Of the Sea

Posted on March 26, 2023 by barczablog

Of the Sea opened tonight to tumultuous applause from the Bluma Appel Theatre crowd, a co-production of Obsidian Theatre & Tapestry Opera. Kanika Ambrose (libretto) and Ian Cusson (music) have collaborated to bring a beautiful myth to life. I heard … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Opera, Reviews, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged Bluma Appel Theatre, Chantale Nurse, Ian Cusson, Jennifer Tung, Jorell Williams, Justin Welsh, Kanika Ambrose, LibLab, Of the Sea, Paul Williamson, Philip Akin, Suzanne Taffot, Tapestry Opera | Leave a comment

Salome: from Matthew and Mark, through Oscar, Richard and Atom

Posted on February 1, 2023 by barczablog

It can be enjoyable to trace the changes in the way a story is adapted and/or interpreted. Salome begins in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. Matthew 14:1-11 (NIV)1 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Architecture & Design, Books & Literature, Cinema, video & DVDs, Dance, theatre & musicals, Opera, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged Atom Egoyan, Canadian Opera Company, Oscar Wilde, Regietheater, Richard Strauss, Salome, The Ten Commandments | Leave a comment

Holst’s Neptune and Wagner’s Lohengrin Prelude

Posted on November 5, 2022 by barczablog

I’ve just noticed something concerning Gustav Holst’s Planets suite. You’ve probably heard that Holst did not mean planets in the sense of astronomy but rather to be more of a meditation on the astrological significance of each planet. His seven … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged Gustav Holst, Gustavo Gimeno, Gyorgy Ligeti, Hans Zimmer, John Williams, Lohengrin, Peter Oundjian, Richard Wagner, The Planets Suite, Toronto Symphony Orchestra | Leave a comment