The year in classical music: Opening of McCaw Hall is the thrilling high point

Looking back at the year 2003 in music, one event beams forth like a beacon: The June 28 opening of the $127 million Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, when more than 2,800 giddy arts fans discovered what all those tax dollars and contributions had wrought. Jane Eaglen's gleaming soprano filled the new hall over a newly-audible orchestra in the pit; Pacific Northwest Ballet dancers filled the stage, which seemed at once larger and more intimate than ever before.

Out in the lobby, gala attendees strolled the grand staircase and made their leisurely way to (finally!) adequate restroom facilities. And outside, the intriguing play of lights on the hanging metal-mesh scrims entertained people as they removed their shoes and happily splashed through the shallow, floor-level fountain.

It's a hit — confirmed later in such programs as Seattle Opera's terrific "Parsifal" and PNB's hugely successful "Nutcracker." And thank goodness. Every new or rebuilt hall is at least partly a gamble, and this time Seattle won.

And here's a salute to some other musical milestones of 2003:

The veteran: On Veteran's Day, the Benaroya Hall audience heard one of the finest recitals of the whole season from seasoned pianist Emanuel Ax, who just plain did everything right in an enchanted evening at the keyboard. More inspired visiting pianists — Leif Ove Andsnes, Lang Lang, Vladimir Feltsman and Krystian Zimerman — made Seattle stages particularly bright this year.

The daredevil: It's Speight Jenkins, the man who brought back the controversial Bob Israel and Francois Rochaix to create a new "Parsifal" for Seattle Opera's first production at McCaw Hall — and then followed that with Marvin David Levy's newest version of the opera "Mourning Becomes Electra." Some audience members were curious, some enthusiastic, some unwilling, but nobody was bored. (For traditionalists, there's a "Carmen" coming up next month.)

The Beethoven warrior: Pianist Craig Sheppard has been working his steady way through Beethoven's 32 great piano sonatas in a series of Meany Theater recitals that just got better and better all year. There's another one on Jan. 6 with two of the greatest sonatas — the "Waldstein" and the "Appassionata."

The favored guest: Time to say hello, and perhaps goodbye, to conductor Hermann Michael, who appeared here last June after a long absence due to a serious illness. Michael, who has conducted both the symphony and opera here, is about to retire to his native Germany with his family but promised that if he returns to the U.S., Seattle will be one of his stops.

Programming coup: The tiny Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival's artistic director, Aloysia Friedmann, pulled off the coup of the season, putting together a discussion/concert program with piano legend Claude Frank (who portrayed Beethoven in a film) with nonagenarian filmmaker/photographer Otto Lang, plus Gerard Schwarz and Jon Kimura Parker. What synergy!

Gone but not forgotten: The Seattle Symphony cellist David Tonkonogui left a huge gap behind for music lovers, colleagues, students, friends and the orchestra when he died in October. Music fans also said goodbye to longtime UW music professor and former department director John "Terry" Moore.

Steel fantasia: Frank Gehry's sweeping, silvery Disney Hall opened to much fanfare in October, providing a classy new home for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and — along with McCaw Hall — boosting the profile of the West Coast arts corridor.

New faces: New executive directors at the Seattle Symphony (Paul Meecham) and Northwest Chamber Orchestra (David Pocock); Kelly Tweeddale took over as administrative director at Seattle Opera, and Bob Goldfarb succeeded Peter Newman as program director at KING-FM.

They like me, they really like me: Seattle Opera's general director Speight Jenkins signed a 10-year contract with that company, and Gerard Schwarz signed on for five years as the Seattle Symphony music director.

Scary finances: The still-tight economy has made for tough times in all the arts during 2003. There were cuts in most government funding; the usually bullish ArtsFund (formerly Corporate Council for the Arts) felt fortunate to nearly reach last year's funding level, and the usually solvent Seattle Symphony ran a deficit for the second season in a row (now totaling around $1.2 million). At Pacific Northwest Ballet, the fiscal year ended with a $750,000 deficit, but forecasts for this season are more positive.

And the big music news for 2004: Seattle Symphony's East Coast road trip at the end of March, taking Schwarz — plus Eaglen as soloist — to Carnegie Hall. How will the home team fare in the Big Apple? Stay tuned!

Melinda Bargreen: mbargreen@seattletimes.com