My favorite musical moment of the year took place on January 28 at a Monday evening Oregon Symphony concert, when the band’s special guest was soprano Amber Wagner—a native Oregonian who has gone on to perform opera internationally. Maestro Carlos [Kalmar] was atop the podium with an ingenious program of back-to-back gems from Richard Strauss: Death and Transfiguration followed seamlessly, without applause, by the composer’s posthumously published Four Last Songs. Rather than dutifully note the orchestral and vocal proficiency on full display that night, it’s probably best to skip any futile attempts at explaining the sublimely ineffable. After the final Last Song was sung and the delicate strings, hushed winds, and muted brass slowly left this world forever, somehow the sound of an intensely precious voice remained, offering hope that in the end—in the very end—everything would be okay.