Tag Archives: Jonathan Crow

Toronto Symphony’s virtuoso Beethoven

Posted on October 26, 2023 by barczablog

Last night’s Toronto Symphony concert titled “Beethoven’s Seventh” was another chance to watch the ongoing romance between the TSO and their new music director Gustavo Gimeno. Whether it’s a love of Beethoven or delight in the ongoing lovefest between orchestra … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

TSM Metamorphosis

Posted on July 29, 2023 by barczablog

Toronto Summer Music’s theme is the same as the title for last night’s concert, namely “metamorphosis”. I’m writing about it Saturday on the closing weekend of the festival. I’ve been pondering that word over and over in response to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Toronto Summer Music Metamorphosis

Posted on July 7, 2023 by barczablog

Tonight was the opening concert of Toronto Summer Music, a festival running until July 29th in several performance spaces around Toronto. For a festival such as this one with the dual objectives of showcasing performance and training artists in its … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Gemma New, Kerson Leong and the TSO: “allez grand ou rentrez chez vous”

Posted on September 30, 2022 by barczablog

Last night I heard the first of the Toronto Symphony’s weekend of romantic works, responding passionately to their guest conductor, the New Zealand-born Gemma New. I noticed her intense display of commitment, yet so respectful of every collaborator in this … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Electrifying opener for Gimeno and TSO

Posted on September 22, 2022 by barczablog

Tonight’s concert by the Toronto Symphony was a fitting beginning to their centennial season, a genuinely celebratory evening. The program message from Music Director Gustavo Gimeno is very promising: “The creation of contrast is at the heart of what I … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Beethoven encore with Crow and Chiu

Posted on July 31, 2021 by barczablog

Toronto Summer Music’s 2021 Festival season concludes this weekend. In a year when theatre, opera & classical music have mostly been clinging to a precarious life through online presentations, this year’s festival was certainly a bit different, mixing vimeo links … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Crow and Chiu play Beethoven live and in person

Posted on July 28, 2021 by barczablog

The performance is almost incidental to the miracle of live music. Please let me never become blasé, never lose my sense of wonder and gratitude, inured to magic. This is a privilege. I was stunned that not only the Toronto … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Kreutzer rather than Bridgetower

Posted on July 27, 2021 by barczablog

2020 was to have been the Beethoven year, the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth in 1770. But of course the plans for operas, plays or concerts collided with the restrictions imposed by the pandemic. Thank goodness Toronto Summer Music … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal ruminations & essays | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

TSO Thais: via Massenet & Anatole France

Posted on August 12, 2020 by barczablog

The Toronto Symphony concert performance of Thaïs, recently released on Chandos, has me wishing we could see & hear more from Jules Massenet, the opera’s composer.  I begin to understand why the late Stuart Hamilton in his time with Opera … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Framing the Pollyanna proposition

Posted on January 9, 2020 by barczablog

January is named for that two-headed god who is able to look ahead and back. As I ponder the wreckage of 2019 I wonder if Janus was too busy looking down at his phone and not watching where he was … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Personal ruminations & essays | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment