In today's G2, the arts pages have put together their highlights of the year. Now it's your turn – let us know what you thought were the outstanding, moving, significant and life-changing moments in the world of the arts in 2008.
And as for me – well, I've had a pretty rich year. I'll never forget watching the entire Shakespeare History Plays at the Roundhouse this spring. It was an emotionally rich and rewarding journey that united all involved, from cast to audience – one of the events of my life, let alone the year (and a fantastic blogging experience, too). In the concert hall, I thrilled to the sounds, for the third time, of the Simon Bolivar National Youth Orchestra, at the Edinburgh international festival. It was impossible not to be swept up and away by the young players' passion. The best exhibition, for me, was Cy Twombly at Tate Modern – a wonderfully paced journey through this artist's life's work that left me unexpectedly tearful. At the opera, Elektra at the Royal Opera house was viscerally exciting and gruesomely bloody – and my £5 standing seat was a fabulous bargain. Richard Jones's Cav and Pag at English National Opera was genius. I also adored Graham Vick's Eugene Onegin at Glyndebourne – an oldish show, but one I hadn't seen before and a terrific treat.
At the cinema, it was all about Tilda Swinton and Mark Cousins' summer festival, the Ballerina Ballroom of Dreams. The definition of bliss: watching I Know Where I'm Going and Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple in this converted ballroom in Nairn on the Moray Firth. My favourite new film was Ari Folman's Waltz With Bashir, a documentary that used animation beautifully and cleverly to illustrate the dreams, memories and fanstasies of its characters: the perfect marriage of form and content. The most unexpected treat was the disarmingly sincere and open-hearted performance of Bon Iver at the Shepherd's Bush Empire this autumn. Finally, dance: it had to be Pina Bausch at Sadler's Wells – her grimly relentless, filthy, heavenly Rite of Spring is scored for ever on my memory.
