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The Year in Arts 2018

Best classical performances of 2018

Best solo recital: Pianist Yuja Wang performing at Jordan Hall.Robert Torres

Best orchestral piece: Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra

Best soloists with an orchestra: Aisslinn Nosky and Max Mandel in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra, Handel and Haydn Society

Best chamber music: Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, and Leonidas Kavakos, all-Brahms program, presented by Celebrity Series of Boston

Best chamber opera: Francesca Caccini’s “La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina,” Boston Early Music Festival

Best large-scale opera: Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville,” Boston Lyric Opera

Best solo recital: Yuja Wang, music by Scriabin, Prokofiev, Ligeti, and Rachmaninoff, presented by Celebrity Series of Boston

Best world premiere: David Lang’s “true pearl,” Roomful of Teeth and the Callithumpian Consort

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Best collaboration: “Paper Earth,” Bent Knee with Samuel Solomon and Boston Conservatory Percussion Ensemble

Best outdoor concert: Boston Landmarks Orchestra, Gonzalo Grau and students from ZUMIX’s “Pegasus Promenade,” and Holst’s “The Planets”

Most immersive performance: Karlheinz Stockhausen’s “Originale,” The Callithumpian Consort


Zoë Madonna can be reached at zoe.madonna@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @knitandlisten. Madonna’s work is supported by the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.