Tag Archives: music

Questions for composer Linda Catlin Smith: an interview

Posted on September 19, 2026 by barczablog

Linda Catlin Smith is a composer I’m pleased to interview, as a couple of her works are about to be premiered, including one by the Toronto Symphony next week. Her music is heard and acclaimed around the world, whether it’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Interviews, Music and musicology | Tagged Claude Debussy, Ema Nikolovska, Koerner Hall, La Mer, Linda Catlin Smith, minimalism, minimalist, music, orchestra, Sean Shibe, Sergei Prokofiev, The Horizon, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, TSO, Yuja Wang | Leave a comment

Guest blog: a Postcard from Bayreuth

Posted on August 28, 2026 by barczablog

This guest blog is written by Canadian Margarete Von Vaight: her Postcard from the 150th anniversary Bayreuth Festival. What happens when you travel to Bayreuth to see The Ring and discover there is no ring? No gold. No sword. No … Continue reading →

Posted in guest blog, Opera | Tagged A.I., AI, Angela Merkel, Artificial Intelligence, Bayreuth, Camilla Nylund, Canada, Christian Thielemann, Das Rheingold, Denmark, Der Ring des Nibelungen, Die Walküre, experiment, Götterdämmerung, innovation, Klaus Florian Vogt, Magnus Vigilius, Margarete von Vaight, Michael Volle, music, Richard Wagner, Rienzi, Ring 10010110 - From Myth to Code, Siegfried, technology, University of Toronto | 14 Comments

A Toronto Summer Music opening night celebration with Les Arts Florissants

Posted on July 10, 2026 by barczablog

Driving downtown to the concert Thursday night July 9th in Koerner Hall I drove through downpours, hearing of roads closed by local flooding. By the time I got there the weather had cleared up, an auspicious beginning: to the 2026 … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews | Tagged (Olivier Bergeron, Camille Chopin, classical-music, history, Jonathan Crow, Josipa Bilic, Kevin Arboleda-Oquendo, La Descente d'Orphée aux enfers, Les Arts Florissant, Marc Antoine Charpentier, music, opera, Richard Pittsinger, Sarah Fleiss, Toronto Summer Music, William Christie, William Fedkenheuer | Leave a comment

Mandle Philharmonic plays Mahler 2nd

Posted on May 23, 2026 by barczablog

I have to make comparisons. Even the most sympathetic critic observes and then contextualizes, by framing those observations in comparison to others. On Friday May 22nd Mandle Cheung conducted his orchestra, the Mandle Philharmonic, in a performance of Gustav Mahler’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged Alex Hetherington, Astrid Varnay, Billy Bishop, Bruno Walter, Carl Morey, classical-music, FIFA, George Weston Recital Hall, Gustav Mahler, Herbert von Karajan, Lesley Bouza, Mandle Cheung, Mandle Phil, Mandle Philharmonic, music, Neil Crory, orchestra, Otto Klemperer, RBC Amphitheatre, Resurrection Symphony, Toronto Symphony, TSO, Urlicht | 3 Comments

Interviewing Don Giovanni’s women

Posted on May 13, 2026 by barczablog

On May 22nd the new Benevolence Opera Project, who present opera both as entertainment and as a platform for social engagement collaborate with Redwood Theatre to present Don Giovanni in a benefit supporting Redwood Women’s Shelter. I asked Holly Chaplin … Continue reading →

Posted in Interviews, Opera, Press Releases and Announcements | Tagged #metoo, Alexander Hajek, Andrew Tees, Benevolence Opera Project, Brahm Goldhamer, Cameron Mazzei, Don Giovanni, Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, Holly Chaplin, James Coole-Stevenson, Kathryn Rose Johnston, Lorenzo Da Ponte, Luke Noftall, Mary Ferrari, music, Redwood Theatre, Redwood Women’s Shelter, Ryan Hofman, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Zerlina | Leave a comment

Ernesto Ramirez’s reflections on singing, preparing for his upcoming concert: an interview with a great singer

Posted on May 2, 2026 by barczablog

I am a big fan of Ernesto Ramirez and his beautiful tenor voice. I’ve seen him sing several times. The voice has a memorable sound, indeed the ideal colour for the Italian bel canto repertoire. He is a singer of … Continue reading →

Posted in Interviews, Opera | Tagged Beach United Church, bel canto, classical-music, Ernesto Ramirez, Hello Goodbye, Holly Chaplin, music, Narmina Efendiyeva, Ryan Hofman | Leave a comment

The ambiguous virtuosity of La Maupin

Posted on April 30, 2026 by barczablog

La Maupin is the title of a new opera produced on film concerning a mythological person of ambiguous gender who may have existed. The historical figure is so interesting, you’d have to invent someone like this if she were not … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Opera, Reviews | Tagged Aphra Behn, Camille Rogers, classical-music, Claude Debussy, Coffeeshop Film & Creative, Colin McMahon, Cyclops, La Maupin, Lauren Halasz, music, opera, Opera Q, Opera Queens, Pelleas et Melisande, Stephen Bell, Tapestry Opera | Leave a comment

Tragedy of Hamlet: Prince of Denmark from Shakespeare, Lepage, Côté and Gzowski

Posted on April 26, 2026 by barczablog

The run is so brief as to make this review seem pointless. Friday night I saw the opening of the Tragedy of Hamlet: Prince of Denmark. My blog may be done by Saturday, but anyone seeing a weekend showing already … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Reviews | Tagged 887, ballet, dance, Elgin Theatre, Guillaume Côté, Hamlet, hybrid, John Gzowski, movement vocabulary, music, Robert Lepage, Shakespeare, Show One Productions, The Far Side of the Moon, The Tragedy of Hamlet, theatre, William Shakespeare | Leave a comment

Opera Atelier present their new Pelléas et Mélisande

Posted on April 16, 2026 by barczablog

Wednesday night saw the premiere of Pelléas et Mélisande in a new orchestration by Christopher Bagan, conducted by David Fallis at Koerner Hall. Opera Atelier commissioned Bagan to reduce the scope of Debussy’s opera from a post-Wagnerian orchestra (70 + … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Opera, Reviews | Tagged Antonin Rondepierre, Baroque, Christopher Bagan, classical-music, Claude Debussy, Cynthia Akemi-Smithers, David Fallis, Douglas Williams, Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg, Marshall Pynkoski, Measha Brueggergosman-Lee, Meghan Lindsay, music, opera, Opera Atelier, Pelléas et Mélisande, Philippe Sly, Symbolist | Leave a comment

Anticipating David James Brock’s upcoming Room of Keys: an interview

Posted on April 2, 2026 by barczablog

Room of Keys is David James Brock’s one act play, created with Adam Sherkin of Piano Lunaire, inspired by Béla Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle (1918). It’s natural that a mysterious symbolist play invites exploration. As with the piano paraphrases of La … Continue reading →

Posted in Interviews, Music and musicology, Opera | Tagged Adam Sherkin, Arnold Schoenberg, Bela Bartok, Bluebeard's Castle, classical-music, David James Brock, erwartung, La Reine-Garçon, music, NanoSTAGE, opera, piano, Piano Lunaire, Robert Lepage, Room of Keys, Timothee Chalamet, writing | Leave a comment