Top 10 of 2010

The ten best performances I had the good fortune to attend in 2010, in chronological order.

Symphony in C with cellist Susan Babini, Aaron Jay Kernis’ "Colored Field," April 7, Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.

Counter)induction, George Crumb’s “Eleven Echoes of Autumn,” May 16, American Philosophical Society

The Crossing, Kamran Ince’s “Gloria (everywhere),” September 12, Bang on a Can Marathon at World Cafe Live

So Percussion and Matmos, music by Robert Ashley and others, same date and location as previous entry

Charles Curtis, Carol Robinson, and Bruno Martinez, Eliane Radigue’s "Naldjorlak," September 24, Christ Church

Princeton Symphony Orchestra with violinist Leila Josefowicz, Steve Mackey’s “Beautiful Passing,” October 3, Richardson Auditorium

Symphony in C (again) with pianist Adam Neiman, Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto, October 9, Gordon Theater at Rutgers-Camden

Opera gala with singers from the Academy of Vocal Arts, October 17, Tomasello Winery

Treme Brass Band, October 27, Candlelight Lounge, New Orleans

JACK Quartet, music by Wolfe, Lachenmann and Gregory Spears, November 20, Icebox @ Crane Arts

It's mainly a list of Philly performances, with a few from New Jersey and an odd one not from the mid-Atlantic at all. You'll note there are few performances from early in the year, which I'll chalk up to weekends spent bartending and weeknights spent planning my April wedding. October appears to have been something of a mensis mirabilis; I only wish I could have taken in a concert during my trip to San Francisco. The Giants game was pretty cool, though.

I'd also like to add two honorable mentions, both of which I had the pleasure of performing in: a March performance with Choral Arts Philadelphia, with music by Pärt, Jonathan Harvey and a wild, woolly, unheard-for-20-years piece by the late Joseph Castaldo; and an a cappella rendition of "Seasons of Love" from the musical Rent , sung with old friends at my wedding, not long after my wife and I said "I do."