Tag Archives: Hector Berlioz

Another look at Roméo et Juliette as a departure point for reflections on criticism & dramaturgy

Posted on October 19, 2025 by barczablog

This has been a bit of a bewildering week, astonishing contrasts. I repeat my self-fulfilling mantra “I am a lucky guy,” grateful for what I’ve experienced. Wednesday was Opera Atelier’s Magic Flute, Thursday Tapestry Briefs Under Where, Friday was the … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Essays, Opera, Reviews | Tagged Against the Grain, Amy Lane, Charles Gounod, Colin Ainsworth, criticism, dramaturgy, Eugene Onegin, Hector Berlioz, Holly Chaplin, Kseniia Proshina, Magic Flute, Opera Atelier, Opera Revue, Orfeo ed Euridice, Romeo and Juliet, Tapestry Briefs, testimony | 2 Comments

Faust Adaptations

Posted on November 4, 2024 by barczablog

Today I saw the closing performance of the Canadian Opera Company’s new production of Gounod’s Faust, in a week when it seemed everyone was selling their soul to the devil even without the manifest falsehoods of politicians at election time. … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays | Tagged Ariane Cossette, Canadian Opera Company, Centre Stage, Cesare Siepi, Charles Gounod, F W Murnau, Faust, Franz Schubert, Gretchen am Spinnrade, Hector Berlioz, Jerome Hines, Jessica Harper, Johannes Debus, Kyle Ketelsen, La Damnation de Faust, Nabucco, Paul WIlliams, Phantom of the Paradise, Robert Lepage, Szymon Mechlinski, Walpurgisnacht Ballet | Leave a comment

Gimeno and TSO: old music made new

Posted on June 9, 2023 by barczablog

I will quietly keep calling Gustavo Gimeno the Toronto Symphony’s “new” music director in my head, but maybe not for the reason you think. Yes he started in 2021, delayed over a year by the pandemic’s impacts on performing arts. … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged Daníel Bjarnason, Echo, Eliot Britton, Gustavo Gimeno, Hector Berlioz, Narcissus, Roy Thomson Hall, Symphonie Fantastique, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Víkingur Ólafsson, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Leave a comment

The Palace Papers: forbidden pleasures with Tina Brown

Posted on September 16, 2022 by barczablog

I find myself conflicted. I am not a royalist but I do admire Elizabeth. Tina Brown’s book The Palace Papers is brilliantly timed. Don Lemon mentioned her book during CNN’s coverage of Elizabeth’s passing and Charles ascension to the throne. … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Cinema, video & DVDs, Reviews | Tagged Hector Berlioz, Queen Elizabeth, The Palace Papers, The Queen, Tina Brown, Vanity Fair | Leave a comment

Gimeno, Schumann’s Spring, Pal’s Scylla at the TSO

Posted on February 6, 2022 by barczablog

What an unusual night for the Toronto Symphony. It’s 11:20 pm as I begin to write this, recalling the headline on CP24 (a picture I snapped at 4:33 pm) about Toronto’s downtown, that says “BREAKING: Traffic is gridlocked in much … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged CP24, Gordon Wolfe, Gustavo Gimeno, Harold in Italy, Hector Berlioz, Jordan Pal, Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann, Roy Thomson Hall, Scylla, Toronto Symphony Orchestra | Leave a comment

Toronto Symphony’s new Berlioz CD

Posted on August 23, 2019 by barczablog

Did they know when they programmed the Toronto Symphony Concert for September 2018 featuring Berlioz works conducted by Sir Andrew Davis that it was going to make a good recording? Here I am now thrilled to be able to listen … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Popular music & culture, Reviews | Tagged Chandos, Fantaisie sur la Tempete de Shakespeare, Hector Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Toronto Symphony | Leave a comment

Pondering wandering

Posted on April 14, 2019 by barczablog

I like the sound of that headline. As I do what it says, pondering wandering, I am a bit lost in the ambiguities. If we knew where we were going it wouldn’t be wandering, would it. The time of year … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged Byron, Harold in Italy, Hector Berlioz, Joel Ivany, Matjash Mrozewski, Parsifal, Richard Wagner, Robert Lepage, Terence Mallick, Topher Mokrzewski, Tree of Life | Leave a comment

Berlioz 150

Posted on March 17, 2019 by barczablog

I started writing this one and shoved it aside because I’m swamped with several things at the same time. That’s life in Toronto if you’re keeping up with the music or opera or theatre scene, let alone trying to see … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal ruminations & essays | Tagged Hector Berlioz, La Damnation de Faust | 2 Comments

A new start with the old guy

Posted on September 23, 2018 by barczablog

A very long time ago I was a Toronto Symphony subscriber watching Andrew Davis conduct the TSO. We’re both much older now. Tonight’s concert at Roy Thomson Hall was the launch of a new season with a new leader stepping … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged Hector Berlioz, Jacques Hetu, Peter Oundjian, Sir Andrew Davis, Symphonie Fantastique, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Variations concertantes | 1 Comment

Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique & the fork in the recreational road

Posted on September 19, 2018 by barczablog

I’m responding as much to the serendipity of timing as anything else. Recreational marijuana becomes legal in Ontario next month. The Toronto Symphony are about to begin their 2018-19 season with Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. Is there a connection? I think … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Music and musicology, Personal ruminations & essays, Psychology and perception | Tagged ankylosing spondylitis, CBD, Dr Charles Bull, Franz Liszt, Hector Berlioz, Jane Austen, Kubla Khan, marijuana, Mike Jay, Northanger Abbey, NSAIDs, recreation, recreational use, Samuel Tayloy Coleridge, Symphonie Fantastique, THC | 2 Comments