my top musical experiences of 2011

I’m sure that I will have forgotten something obvious, and except for item #1, the list is roughly in reverse chronological order. Send in your favorites from 2011 in the comments section below.

1. The Oregon Symphony’s Carnegie Hall debut. It would be hard to top this one. I’d been to Carnegie before, but with Pink Martini, not my own orchestra, and being in that hallowed space with an orchestra playing at the top of its powers was an incredible experience. What comes to mind most immediately? The silken sound of the violins in John Adams’ The Wound Dresser. Chills went up and down my spine. And hearing the bass section, even with just six of them, putting out a gorgeous sound that one never gets to hear in the Schnitz.
2. Cellist Alban Gerhardt playing Prokofiev’s Symphony-Concerto. It was a thrill just to hear this piece live, it’s so seldom performed. And to hear it played with such mastery and control as Alban brought to it, it was hair-raisingly good.
3. The Arnica String Quartet playing music of Benjamin Britten and Daniel Ott. This was undoubtedly the most difficult concert I’ve ever played in my life. But, it was also one of the most rewarding. Exploring the music of two composers side by side with my colleagues in the quartet, plus pianist Susan Dewitt Smith, was an amazing experience.
4. Yo-Yo Ma playing Osvaldo Golijov’s Azul with the Oregon Bach Festival. Another life-altering musical experience courtesy of Mr. Ma. Golijov’s piece is a stunner (if also stunningly expensive to produce) with its quartet of obligato instrumentalists (including hyper-accordion) and a super-star soloist. A deeply spiritual experience for everyone that was at the Hult Center that evening.
5. Emanuel Ax playing Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto. It wasn’t just Ax’s brilliant and masterly playing of the Brahms that was so special, it was his deeply generous encore after the Saturday evening performance of Schumann with principal cellist Nancy Ives. It proved that one need not be a jerk to be one of the world’s best.
6. Brahms’ German Requiem with the Oregon Bach Festival and Helmuth Rilling. A crowning spiritual achievement. Rilling had such perfect pacing and control of this sprawling masterpiece that it just existed as though it were meant to be this way from its moment of creation. The chorus and soloists were all magnificent, and Rilling proved that he is a master of the orchestral-choral repertoire.
7. Karen Gomyo plays the Beethoven Violin Concerto, and Nielsen’s Fourth Symphony. The Beethoven is the summit of the repertoire for the violin, and Karen Gomyo more than met its considerable challenges. She gave a performance full of fire and ice, passion and concentration. Carl Nielsen’s The Inextinguishable proved what a virtuoso instrument the Oregon Symphony has become, with especially solid contributions from timpanists Jonathan Greeney and Niel DePonte and our reliably awesome brass section.
8. Conductor Michael Francis pinch hits for Alondro de la Parra. Never before at the Oregon Symphony has an unknown (and young) conductor come in to rescue a concert with such grace and aplomb as Mr. Francis. With just days notice he came with performance ready interpretations and everyone’s name in the orchestra memorized. And he did it again a month later.
9. Storm Large debuts with the Oregon Symphony. Storm literally took us by storm. She looks the way she does, but that belies incredible smarts and musical dedication. She sings in tune and with fully developed musical instincts. Keep an eye on her – she’s going places, and who knows where she’ll end up.
10. Yuja Wang debuts with the Oregon Symphony. She didn’t wear her famous orange mini-dress, but she came loaded for bear to play Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto with ferocity and delicacy all in one concentrated package.