Tag Archives: Toronto Symphony Orchestra

TSO – Fragile Absolute

Posted on March 6, 2016 by barczablog

The Toronto Symphony’s three-concert New Creations Festival launched in impressive fashion tonight, a spectacular variety of styles on display in a programme with the title “Fragile Absolute”. Before the interval felt like personal testimony from the festival’s curator Brett Dean. … Continue reading →

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Love, Death and the TSO

Posted on January 29, 2016 by barczablog

Tonight was my first look at the Toronto Symphony playing under Peter Oundjian since their Florida tour. On the trip I saw an ensemble who were playing with commitment and passion. Oundjian’s leadership for the three performances I saw of … Continue reading →

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TSO Stage Mozart Requiem

Posted on January 24, 2016 by barczablog

We were all invested with a sense of community. As I sat making notes afterwards, Joseph Johnson’s solo cello kept playing away, as though he didn’t want to go home. I think it’s fair to say that so far Jeff … Continue reading →

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TSO warming up in Florida

Posted on January 6, 2016 by barczablog

Toronto has just had the coldest day of the year! Brr-r-r: except it’s only January 5th so that’s a crazy statistic. I almost called it a “sadistic”because of course, as i look at the sky and wonder about cold weather, … Continue reading →

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All Tchaikovsky TSO: cause for celebration

Posted on December 6, 2015 by barczablog

Tonight the Toronto Symphony played an all-Tchaikovsky program to a full house at Roy Thomson Hall, and the TSO make it feel like a genuine occasion. The audience loved the performances, first a concerto, then a symphony. And afterwards we … Continue reading →

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10 Questions for John Relyea

Posted on December 5, 2015 by barczablog

John Relyea?  I remember hearing that one of Canada’s great singers, Gary Relyea, had a son who was making a name for himself in the USA, first at the Merola program of the San Francisco Opera and inevitably at the … Continue reading →

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Mahler’s decade

Posted on November 13, 2015 by barczablog

Michael Sanderling led the Toronto Symphony in a program of works from the first decade of the twentieth century featuring soprano Simone Osborne. We heard a diverse assortment of musical styles represented even though the works have a few things … Continue reading →

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Psycho and the art of horror with the Toronto Symphony

Posted on November 1, 2015 by barczablog

For Halloween the Toronto Symphony presented their latest film with a live accompaniment, namely Psycho. A film buff might call it “Hitchcock’s Psycho.“ A film-music buff might prefer “Bernard Herrmann’s Psycho” which is closer to how I see it. Without … Continue reading →

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Hannigan conducts the Toronto Symphony

Posted on October 8, 2015 by barczablog

Soprano Barbara Hannigan is also Conductor Barbara Hannigan.  We knew she could sing. Tonight she sang and conducted the Toronto Symphony, her first time conducting an orchestra in North America.  This wasn’t just a concert to enable her to plant the … Continue reading →

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Toronto Symphony – Pan American Rhythms

Posted on June 15, 2015 by barczablog

This weekend the Toronto Symphony began a summer of the arts celebrating the Pan Am Games coming to Toronto. There’s much more to come, for example… Toronto Summer Music celebrate their tenth year with a festival titled “The New World” … Continue reading →

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