Just as names came to me and, then, as DK provided more, I have this little list of people that have come to San Jose and I’ve had the honor of working with:

Nathan Milstein, Pierre Fournier, Aaron Copland, Carlos Chavez, Martha Graham, Sarah Vaughan, Henry Brant, Jessye Norman, Frederica von Stade, Kathleen Battle, Bill Evans, Richard Stolzman, Philippe Entremont, Richard Stotzman, Catherine Malfitano, Leon Fleisher, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Lynn Harrell, Radu Lupu, Yo-Yo Ma, Zara Nelsova, Paul Tortelier, Christopher Parkening, Romeros (all four), Harold Gomberg, Mitch Miller (as conductor, not oboist), Victor Borge, Jean-Philippe Collard, Alicia de Larrocha, Lili Kraus, Katia Labèque, Marielle Labèque, Krzysztof Penderecki (as conductor, playing his work), Jon Nakamatsu, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Garrick Ohlsson, Bernadette Peteres, Henry Mancini, Doc Severinson, Peter Serkin, Mitsuko Uchida, Bobby McFerrin, André Watts, Earl Wild, Nigel Kennedy, Itzhak Perlman, Gil Shaham, Isaac Stern, Pinchas Zukerman, Eugene Fodor, Claude Frank, Joseph Silverstein, Lara St. John, Marvin Hamlisch, Jerry Goldsmith, David Benoit, Michel Legrand, Alan Hovhannes, Burt Bacharach, John Cage, Mark O’Connor, Danny Glover, James Earl Jones, Cleo Laine and John Dankworth, Richard Goode, George Shearing, Smothers Brothers, Flying Karamazov Brothers, Dave Brubeck, Mannheim Steamroller, Van Cliburn, Rudolf Serkin, Jaime Laredo, Helene Grimaud, Jorge Bolet, Rosemary Clooney, Peter Schickele

… I’m sure I’ll add more as time goes on.

Some were wonderful. Most, really. A few were mean, mean, mean. And no, I won’t say who.

What an honor, though. When I look at all these names I realize what a great job this is. Yet again. (As if I need reminding!)

Who I missed … due to having a baby or other such things … Tony Bennett, Vincent Price … and of course there are more that I’ll maybe come up with …