Tag Archives: Mozart

Rethinking Mozart 40 & Schubert 5 with Rachel Podger and Tafelmusik

Posted on September 27, 2025 by barczablog

Friday night was an exciting beginning to the Tafelmusik concert season led by their charismatic Principal Guest Director Rachel Podger featuring works of Mozart & Schubert, a concert to be repeated Saturday & Sunday at Koerner Hall. The spectacular performances … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged Charlotte Nediger, classical-music, Franz Schubert, Koerner Hall, Mozart, Rachel Podger, Tafelmusik, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Leave a comment

Jan Lisiecki plays Beethoven concerti

Posted on February 6, 2025 by barczablog

I’m going to stop calling Jan Lisiecki a young pianist. I just looked up his birthday, saw that on March 23rd he turns 30. But it’s not about the numbers. Tonight I heard the first of two concerts from Jan … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged Beethoven, classical-music, Franz Josef Haydn, Jan Lisiecki, Ludwig van Beethoven, Mozart, Peter Oundjian, piano, Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto Symphony, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | 2 Comments

Fire & Ice: Shostakovich, Sibelius and TSO specialties

Posted on November 18, 2024 by barczablog

When an artist tells you their goals & objectives one should listen. Gustavo Gimeno’s “European Soundscapes” essay in the current Toronto Symphony program gives us some great clues as to what we should expect from the orchestra. No they are … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged Ana Sokolovic, classical-music, Dmitri Shostakovich, Gustavo Gimeno, Jean Sibelius, Julian Rachlin, Mozart, music, Shostakovich, Sibelius, Toronto Symphony Orchestra | Leave a comment

Questions for Alexander Hajek

Posted on January 19, 2024 by barczablog

I heard baritone Alexander Hajek singing at the Toronto Vocal Showcase 1.0 in August. He sang well. Full disclosure? I grew up accompanying my brother baritone Peter Barcza. I tend to be harshest with baritone voices ever since. So it … Continue reading →

Posted in Interviews, Opera | Tagged Alexander Hajek, Claire Elise Harris, Da Ponte, Danie Friesen, Das Rheingold, Ernani, Giuseppe Verdi, Mozart, Opera Revue, Richard Wagner, Toronto Vocal Showcase 1.0, Warhammer | 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 Grace Church on-the-Hill, Haydn, Jessie Montgomery, Jonathan Crow, Kreutzer Sonata, Ludwig van Beethoven, Mozart, Philip Chiu, Toronto Summer Music | Leave a comment

Tribal Messiah

Posted on December 22, 2019 by barczablog

I’m trying to find the right word, so please bear with me. For someone who goes to see concerts & theatre more often than most people, you might never guess that I’m sometimes frustrated. My mantra is “I’m a lucky … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays, Reviews, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged Alexander Shelley, George Frideric Handel, Ivars Taurins, Lucile Richardot, Margaret Rood, Mozart, Peter Harvey, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Tafelmusik Chamber Choir, Thomas Hobbs, Toronto Symphony Orchestra | 1 Comment

TSO Messiah via Mozart

Posted on December 21, 2019 by barczablog

Tonight I heard something different from the Toronto Symphony. The TSO’s annual Messiah in Roy Thomson Hall with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir may seem like a ritual, but it actually varies from year to year. Every time we get different … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews | Tagged Alexander Shelley, David Fallis, Emily D'Angelo, George Frideric Handel, Isaiah Bell, Jane Archibald, Messiah, Mozart, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Roy Thomson Hall, Russell Braun, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Toronto Symphony Orchestra | 1 Comment

Figaro’s Wedding 2019

Posted on December 4, 2019 by barczablog

In 2013 Against the Grain offered the first of their “transladaptations” of one of the trilogy of da Ponte-Mozart operas, Figaro’s Wedding. Tonight AtG premiered something we might call a revival of the work, with a number of intriguing differences, … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews | Tagged Against the Grain Theatre, Alexandra Smither, Bruno Roy, Da Ponte, Enoch Turner Schoolhouse, Gregory Finney, Jacques Arsenault, Joel Ivany, Lauren Eberwein, Maria Soulis, Miriam Khalil, Mozart, Phillip Addis, Topher Mokrzewski, transladaptation | Leave a comment

Song of the Earth

Posted on August 2, 2019 by barczablog

I can’t help noticing symmetry in 2019’s Toronto Summer Music and its Beyond Borders theme. The Festival opened July 12th with a concert featuring a Mozart sonata including the famous rondo “alla Turca” and a 20th century song cycle in … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged Arnold Schoenberg, Gemma New, Gustav Mahler, Jonathan Crow, Mario Bahg, Mozart, Rainer Riehn, Rihab Chaieb | 1 Comment

Idomeneo: Marshall Law

Posted on April 5, 2019 by barczablog

The question running through my head as I watched tonight’s opening of Opera Atelier’s Idomeneo at the Ed Mirvish Theatre was: “who is the star?” In this their first performance in a new venue I could say “it’s the space”. … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews | Tagged Colin Ainsworth, David Fallis, Douglas Williams, Idomeneo, Marshall Pynkoski, Measha Bruggergosman, Meghan Lindsay, Mozart, Opera Atelier, Wallis Giunta | Leave a comment