Innisfree Garden, Late August, 2016

The photographs were taken August 24 and August 27.

Musical Interlude: Sarah Cahill in Concert at the New Music Gathering

Sarah Cahill performs a Piano Party for Terry Riley at 80, with thanks to the New Music Gathering, San Francisco Conservatory of Music and I Care If You Listen TV.

My Year in Music, 2014

Contemporaneous “Living Toys” Concert at Roulette (David Bloom conducting)

I’ve had a particularly memorable “year in music” this year. While I’ve listed a “Prufrock’s Dozen” of CDs, this year-end post isn’t a “best of” list in the usual sense, but rather an opportunity to gather together the “best of” my musical experiences throughout the year. The post is divided into three sections: A “Prufrock’s Dozen” of CDs, Live Performances, and Other Significant Music-Related Activities.

Patterns of Plants (Sarah Cahill Performs Mamoru Fujieda)

Composer David Lang was right when he said to pianist Sarah Cahill, “You should be playing Mamoru’s work.” Lang was speaking of the work of composer Mamoru Fujieda who, “in a world that rewards virtuosity and showmanship, chooses to write music of simplicity and delicacy,” as Cahill so justly notes.

My Year In Music 2013

This year, I’m even more relieved than last year that I’m not a professional critic assigned to assemble a “top ten” music list for 2013. Instead, here is a year-end offering of highlights from my personal musical journey throughout the year.

I also want to recognize the composer and musicians who participated in This Life in Music profiles during 2013: Maxwell J McKee, Sabrina Tabby, Dávid Adam Nagy, Lucy Dhegrae, and Amy Garapic, as well as composer Dylan Mattingly, for his guest post on his new work, The Bakkhai (a report on the premiere of The Bakkhai is included in this post). It was a pleasure and privilege to present each of them on Prufrock’s Dilemma. Thanks to all!