E. Haig’s Top Performances of 2014

The Sacramento performing arts community continued to provide residents with ample opportunities to see quality performances in both music and theatrical productions last year.  We attended over forty during the year, but we missed more than a few that may have made our final list.  With that caveat in mind, here’s our top twelve for 2014, presented in reverse order.

12. Murray Perahia’s piano recital on February 19 at the Mondavi Center (on the campus of U.C. Davis). Highlighted by a powerful performance of Beethoven’s “Appassionata” (his Sonata No. 23 in F Minor), this 66-year-old virtuoso played a program that also included stirring renditions of Bach’s “French Suite No. 4,” Schumann’s “Papillons,” and Chopin’s Scherzo No. 2.

11. Cameron Carpenter’s organ recital on April 2 at Mondavi. Performing to a small but highly appreciative audience, this young master of the instrument played Bach and Mozart with a flair that suggested he may well capture the same kind of attention with the pipe organ as his contemporary Lang Lang has with the piano.  Highlights included a work by Jeanne Demessieux and a foot-pedal only rendition of a Marcel Dupre composition.

10. The Music Circus production of “Mary Poppins” in July. The first of two productions by this esteemed organization to make our list, the Glenn Casale-directed production of this Disney classic was a surprising delight from start to finish.  It had a stellar cast and terrific scenic designs (by Scott Klier and Jamie Kumpf) that had chimney stacks on tall houses in the aisles of the Wells Fargo Pavilion Theater and a collapsible kitchen that you had to see to believe.

9. “Good People” at Capital Stage in May. This David Lindsay-Abaire Tony Award-winning play was given a first-rate production under the direction of Stephanie Gularte, who received great performances from everyone in the six-character cast (led by Rebecca Dines, James Hiser, and ZZ Moor).  The production was evocative of the best off-Broadway productions, the kind this company delivers with just about every play it produces.

8. Ellis Marsalis, Jr. and Delfeayo Marsalis at Mondavi on September 19. With the father (Ellis) on piano and the son (Delfeayo) on his trombone, and backed by John Clayton (bass) and Marvin Smith (drums), the pair played tunes from their “Last Southern Gentlemen” CD.  It was a concert for lovers of traditional jazz with great arrangements of “Autumn Leaves” and “If I Were a Bell,” along with several Delfeayo originals.

7. The Music Circus production of “La Cage aux Folles” in August. Although perhaps a bit dated now, this Jerry Herman-Harvey Fierstein musical still packs plenty of laughs and contains more than a few good musical numbers.   As directed by Tony Spinosa, and with strong performances from Brent Barrett, Alan Mingo, Jr., and Kevin Cooney, the Music Circus production featured terrific dancing (by six male dancers in drag) and lots of great costumes and wigs to add to the frivolity and hilarity.

6. Pinchas Zukerman and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Mondavi on January 25. The famed virtuoso violinist doubled as conductor of this great orchestra and also played Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D Major in the first of a number of great orchestral performances in Jackson Hall last year.  In addition to the concerto, Mr. Zukerman led the orchestra in excellent performances of Beethoven’s  Fifth Symphony and his Overture to the “Creatures of Prometheus.”

5. The B Street production of “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” in June. This Christopher Durang play won the Tony Award for best new play last year, and in this excellent production (directed by Buck Busfield), it was easy to see why.  The hilarious script (a witty spin on the works of Chekhov, Pirandello, and Neil Simon, among others) features six characters who were wonderfully captured by the cast, led by the always brilliant Jamie Jones.

4. The February 13 San Francisco Symphony performance at Mondavi. The first of two Mondavi performances by this great orchestra on our list, this one featured the stirring conducting of Jaap van Zweden on Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony and the brilliant violin virtuosity of Simone Lansma on the Concerto in D Minor by Jean Sibelius.  Both artists were spell-binding, and the orchestra added its usual perfection.

3. The March 4 performance of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic at Mondavi. This great orchestra’s 75-year-old conductor, Yuri Temirkanov, was the central figure in this terrific concert.  His conducting, subtle, yet intense, demanded attention, even as he let his musicians shine.  Each work on the program was magnificently delivered.  Rossini’s Overture to “The Barber of Seville” was a perfect opening, Vilde Frang starred as soloist on Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto, and the full (106 musicians) orchestra soared on a slightly abridged (still 52 minutes) version of Rachmaninoff’s grand Second Symphony.

2. The Mondavi March 22 performance by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields led by Joshua Bell. Mr. Bell, violinist extraordinaire, sat as concertmaster and conducted the larger (40 musicians) version of the chamber orchestra in a stirring performance of Beethoven’s “Eroica” (Symphony No. 3), and, for good measure, conducted and soloed on Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D Major.  He and the musicians also offered a terrific rendition of Mozart’s Overture to “The Marriage of Figaro” to begin this wonderful evening of great music.

1. The San Francisco Symphony’s October 25 concert at Mondavi. Guest conductor (and pianist) Christian Zacharias led the orchestra in a perfect performance of Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring, skillfully maneuvering through the work’s many moods and images and concluding it with a whisper of pure beauty and sublime serenity.  The rest of the concert was also fine (Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20, Haydn’s 93rd Symphony and a very interesting short work by Morton Feldman), but the Copland was the key, and it was as good as a performance can be: magical and to be treasured forever.