Tag Archives: Four Seasons Centre

Superb Orfeo revival

Posted on October 13, 2025 by barczablog

I was delighted by the Canadian Opera Company revival of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice Saturday at the Four Seasons Centre. Although I thought I liked it well enough when I saw it in 2011 I never expected the gushing tears … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Reviews | Tagged Anna-Sophie Neher, Bernard Labadie, Canadian Opera Company, Catherine St-Arnaud, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Christophe Gayra, classical-music, Four Seasons Centre, Iestyn Davies, music, opera, Orfeo ed Euridice, Ranieri de' Calzabigi, reform opera, review, Robert Carsen, Sandra Horst | Leave a comment

Reflections from Stephen Bell, former COC chorister, Founder of Coffeeshop Film & Creative

Posted on June 16, 2025 by barczablog

Stephen Bell is an award winning filmmaker and visual designer based in Toronto. Videographer by day and opera singer by night, Stephen is the Founder of Coffeeshop Film & Creative. And on May 25th Stephen posted on Facebook that after … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Interviews, Opera | Tagged Angela Bell, Bardia Doust, Brahm Goldhamer, Canadian Opera Company, COC Chorus, Coffeeshop Film & Creative, digital content, Eric Moniz, Four Seasons Centre, La Maupin, Messiah/Complex, music, opera, OperaQ, passagio, Sandra Horst, Stephen Bell, Tenor, videographer, videography | Leave a comment

Scary Don Giovanni at the COC

Posted on February 5, 2024 by barczablog

Well it’s about time! I’ve been watching productions of Mozart’s Don Giovanni all my life that end with some sort of ludicrous & unbelievable encounter between the anti-hero and his fake stone guest, who comes to drag him to hell. … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Reviews | Tagged Ben Bliss, Canadian Opera Company, Don Giovanni, English National Opera, Es Devlin, Four Seasons Centre, Gordon Bintner, Joel Allison, Johannes Debus, Kasper Holten, Lorenzo Da Ponte, Luke Halls, Mane Galovan, Paolo Bordogna, Perryn Leech, Simone McIntosh, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Leave a comment

A post-truth Fidelio

Posted on September 30, 2023 by barczablog

Last night the Canadian Opera Company had their opening night of Fidelio in a recent San Francisco Opera production directed by Matthew Ozawa, with set and projections designed by Alexander Nichols and costumes by Jessica Jahn. Their design concept is … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Politics, Reviews | Tagged Alexander Nichols, Anna-Sophie Neher, Canadian Opera Company, Clay Hilley, Dimitry Ivashchenko, Fidelio, Four Seasons Centre, Jessica Jahn, Johannes Debus, Johannes Martin Kränzle, Josh Lovell, Ludwig van Beethoven, Matthew Ozawa, Miina-Liisa Värelä, Sava Vemic | Leave a comment

Macbeth closing performance: women have it harder

Posted on May 21, 2023 by barczablog

Three weeks ago I reviewed the powerful opening night of the new Sir David McVicar production of Verdi’s Macbeth from the Canadian Opera Company. Today I came full circle watching the last show of the run including exciting changes in … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews | Tagged Adam Luther, Canadian Opera Company, Charlotte Siegel, Elinor Ross, Four Seasons Centre, Giuseppe Verdi, Lady Macbeth, Louis Quilico, Macbeth, Matthew Cairns, Quinn Kelsey, Sir David McVicar, Speranza Scappucci, Tosca, Tracy Cantin | Leave a comment

Creepy COC Macbeth

Posted on May 1, 2023 by barczablog

On a dark rainy day in the midst of Toronto’s traffic chaos I was rendered speechless by the new Canadian Opera Company production of Verdi’s Macbeth directed by Sir David McVicar. I never knew this opera could move me so … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Dance, theatre & musicals, Opera, Reviews | Tagged Adam Luther, Alexandrina Pendatchanska, Canadian Opera Company, Clarence Frazer, Four Seasons Centre, Giuseppe Verdi, Louis Quilico, Macbeth, Matthew Cairns, Quinn Kelsey, Tracy Cantin, Vartan Gabrielian, William Shakespeare | 7 Comments

COC Carmen Opens

Posted on October 15, 2022 by barczablog

I saw and heard opening night of the Canadian Opera Company’s Carmen tonight at the Four Seasons Centre, a revival of Joel Ivany’s 2016 production. It’s a wonderful take on a well-known work with a very original approach to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Reviews | Tagged Alain Coulombe, Canadian Opera Company, Carmen, Flying Dutchman, Four Seasons Centre, Georges Bizet, Jacques Lacombe, J’Nai Bridges, Joel Ivany, Joyce El-Khoury, Lucas Meachem, Marcelo Puente | Leave a comment

Questions for Marilyn Gronsdal

Posted on September 27, 2022 by barczablog

Marilyn Gronsdal is an opera director whose work we’ve seen with the Canadian Opera Company, reviving productions premiered in earlier seasons. In 2019 the COC brought back Atom Egoyan’s 2015 Cosi fan tutte. I liked that 2019 version much better … Continue reading →

Posted in Interviews, Opera | Tagged Canadian Opera Company, Christopher Alden, Four Seasons Centre, Marilyn Gronsdal, Robert Lepage, The Flying Dutchman | Leave a comment

Russell, Tamara, Johannes and Perryn take us for a test-drive

Posted on October 3, 2021 by barczablog

If asked to identify the two most reliable performers for the Canadian Opera Company over the past decade, you might well come up with the singers chosen to launch the COC’s “season like no other”. I remember Russell Braun’s Chou … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Press Releases and Announcements | Tagged Canadian Opera Company, Four Seasons Centre, Johannes Debus, Perryn Leech, Russell Braun, Tamara Wilson | 2 Comments

Quilico and Pavarotti in Rigoletto

Posted on April 12, 2021 by barczablog

The Metropolitan Opera’s free feed gave us a lovely trip down memory lane last week, with a 1981 Rigoletto starring Louis Quilico, Luciano Pavarotti and Christiane Eda-Pierre. I can’t be the only one who watched, remembering the times Quilico sang … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Dance, theatre & musicals, Opera | Tagged Canadian Opera Company, Four Seasons Centre, Giuseppe Verdi, Il Trovatore, La Traviata, Louis Quilico, Luciano Pavarotti, Metropolitan Opera, Rigoletto | 5 Comments