Tag Archives: George Frideric Handel

Double Dixit delivers

Posted on November 29, 2025 by barczablog

This week Tafelmusik’s Chamber Choir began their season with a concert titled Double Dixit, a wonderful warm-up for the Messiah, coming in three weeks. The singers in that choir are professionals at the highest level, among the best soloists collected … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged adaptation, Agostino Steffani, Antonio Lotti, Dixit Dominus, Double Dixit, George Frideric Handel, Ivars Taurins, Kate Helsen, Messiah, Tafelmusik Chamber Choir, Turner Classic Movies | Leave a comment

Finding out about 3 penny Messiah

Posted on November 30, 2024 by barczablog

Opera by Request and No Strings Theatre are collaborating on their 3 penny Messiah, a smaller scale alternative to what is offered from big groups such as Tafelmusik or the Toronto Symphony, one performance December 7th and a singalong December … Continue reading →

Posted in Interviews, Press Releases and Announcements | Tagged Avery Krisman, Cesar Bello, College Street United Church, Denise Williams, George Frideric Handel, Meagan Reimer, Messiah, No Strings Theatre, Opera by Request, Roanna Kitchen, Singalong, William Shookhoff | Leave a comment

The other Christmas Oratorio from Tafelmusik

Posted on November 25, 2024 by barczablog

Excuse me for this preamble, pondering Christmas oratorios. Toronto is Messiah town, as musical ensembles large (Toronto Symphony Dec 17-22 at Roy Thomson Hall or Tafelmusik Dec 20 & 21, plus the Singalong December 22nd) or small (Opera by Request … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology | Tagged Bach, Cecilia Duarte, Charles Daniels, Charlotte Nediger, choral-music, Friedrich Nietzsche, George Frideric Handel, Hélène Brunet, Ivars Taurins, Jeanne Lamon Hall, Jesse Blumberg, Johann Sebastian Bach, Messiah, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Tafelmusik Chamber Choir, The Birth of Tragedy | 3 Comments

SOLT pedagogy

Posted on July 27, 2024 by barczablog

I attended the La Boheme to open Summer Opera Lyric Theatre’s summer season tonight at the Alumnae Theatre. Guillermo Silva-Marin called it a festival in his pre-show introductory talk. As you can see in the graphic, between now and next … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, University life | Tagged George Frideric Handel, Giacomo Puccini, Guillermo Silva-Marin, Idomeneo, La boheme, Mike Fan | 范祖铭 (they) aka Tanya Smania (she), Ombra mai fu, SOLT, Summer Opera Lyric Theatre, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Xerxes | 2 Comments

Tafelmusik and Ivars Taurins celebrate Handel

Posted on June 1, 2024 by barczablog

Tafelmusik turned their choral specialist loose for their season-concluding Handel celebration concert. If you have any way of getting to this concert do so, a love-fest centred on Handel and his alter-ego Ivars Taurins. You may know Ivars Taurins for … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews | Tagged Amanda Forsythe, George Frideric Handel, Grégoire Jeay, Ivars Taurins, Koerner Hall, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Tafelmusik Chamber Choir, Thomas Hobbs | 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

Questions for Norman E Brown — OperOttawa’s Alcina

Posted on February 20, 2023 by barczablog

I wanted to shine a spotlight on OperOttawa, a relatively new company, by talking to their founder and Artistic Director, Canadian baritone Norman E. Brown. OperOttawa present Handel’s Alcina on March 5th in Ottawa, so I wanted to ask Norman … Continue reading →

Posted in Interviews, Opera, Press Releases and Announcements | Tagged Alcina, Carole Portelance, Domenico Cimarosa, Erinne-Colleen Laurin, Frederic Lacroix, George Frideric Handel, Il Matrimonio Segreto, Jack Hui Litster, Kathleen Radke, Morgan Strickland, Norman E Brown, Opera Lyra, OperOttawa | 1 Comment

Gustavo Gimeno’s First TSO-TMC Messiah

Posted on December 18, 2022 by barczablog

The surest sign the city seems to be returning to something like normal, is Handel’s Messiah performed all over. I’m seeing many friends on Facebook either reporting that they’re singing it or feeling left out because so many others are … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged Elliot Madore, George Frideric Handel, Gustavo Gimeno, Jean-Sébastien Vallée, Lauren Fagan, Messiah, Michael Colvin, Roy Thomson Hall, Stephanie Wake-Edwards, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Toronto Symphony Orchestra | Leave a comment

Popular Tchaikovsky at the TSO

Posted on November 24, 2022 by barczablog

Handel speaks from beyond the grave to remind musicians how he helps pay the rent in a meme. Ballet companies owe Tchaikovsky a similar debt, when families flock to the theatre for The Nutcracker. Popularity can be problematic when it … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Music and musicology, Popular music & culture, Reviews | Tagged Dalia Stasevska, George Frideric Handel, Glenda Jackson, Nutcracker, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovky, Sergei Babayan, The Music Lovers | Leave a comment

2021 TSO Messiah

Posted on December 16, 2021 by barczablog

As Kevin Bazzana observes in his Toronto Symphony Orchestra program note, “there is no one definitive Messiah.” It’s an ironic turn of phrase considering the religious implications one might give that phrase. Indeed when I look at the bizarre mockeries … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged Anna-Sophie Neher, George Frideric Handel, Messiah, Rihab Chaieb, Roy Thomson Hall, Simon Rivard, Spencer Britten, Stephen Hegedus, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Toronto Symphony Orchestra | 2 Comments