"Schumann was a nut," cracked pianist Jeremy Denk, an accurate assessment, but offered with true affection.

Denk, after all, knows a thing or two about the German composer, as splendidly evidenced by Saturday night's performance of Schumann's Piano Concerto with the IRIS Orchestra.

The brilliant, rolling and poetic composition was thrillingly rendered by Denk who played with shimmering fluidity. Sometimes performers need to prove something -- but not the expressive Denk, whose intent was purely to immerse the audience in Schumann's gorgeousness. Nothing nuts about that.

(He followed with an encore of the tone poem "The Alcotts" by Charles Ives, nicely capturing its own slightly nutty blend of wit and sentiment).

As IRIS concerts go, this was another one where the rest of the program was as compelling as the piece by the featured artist.

Maestro Michael Stern started the evening with the remarkable "Tell My Fortune" by Michael Daugherty, a 2004 piece that has enormous fun with the notion of reading palms, crystal balls and tarot cards.

From the opening double bass passage -- beautifully performed by Scott Best -- "Fortune" lured in listeners with its witty, frenetic and dreamy journey. Although alluding to its themes with Middle Eastern flavors, it was in many ways wonderfully abstract and always coherent.

Other orchestra members also had delicious solos, including violinist Miho Saegusa, and flutists Karen Busler and Todd Skitch.

Judging by overheard comments later, "Tell My Fortune" was appealing enough to several concertgoers to overcome common misgivings about contemporary music. Bring on more!

The evening's final piece at the Germantown Performing Arts Centre was Mendelssohn's Fourth Symphony (Italian), a surefire favorite for the audience and another chance for the orchestra to shine as it had done all evening long.