Wow: Heady Company for Jack Quartet

Yesterday's New York Times does a typical end of the year roundup of the "most memorable classical music performances of 2008." Four of the five performances are not surprising -- a lot has been written about them not only in the Times, but in other national publications. They are the performance at the Park Avenue Armory of Die Soldaten, a German opera, where the audience is seated on tracks and moves around during different parts of the performance; the New York Philharmonic's concert in North Korea; the Mass project at Carnegie Hall in honor of Leonard Bernstein; the performance at Carnegie in honor of Elliott Carter's 100th birthday, with the old man in attendance, and the Jack Quartet performance in October at (le) poisson rouge. Holy cow. Those kids are on to something.