Michael Tilson Thomas
(born December 21, 1944), is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is currently music director of the San Francisco Symphony.
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MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS TICKETS
EVENT | DATE | AVAILABILITY |
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Emanuel Ax & Michael Tilson Thomas Tickets 9/12 | Sep 12, 2024 Thu, 7:30 PM | | Emanuel Ax & Michael Tilson Thomas Tickets 9/13 | Sep 13, 2024 Fri, 2:00 PM | | New York Philharmonic: Emanuel Ax & Michael Tilson Thomas Tickets 9/15 | Sep 15, 2024 Sun, 2:00 PM | | Houston Symphony: Michael Tilson Thomas - Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony Tickets 11/14 | Nov 14, 2024 Thu, 7:30 PM | | Los Angeles Philharmonic: Michael Tilson Thomas Tickets 2/1 | Feb 01, 2025 Sat, 8:00 PM | |
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Biography
Early years
Tilson Thomas was born in
Los Angeles, California to Ted and Roberta Thomas,
Broadway stage manager, and a middle school history teacher. He is the grandson of noted
Yiddish theater stars
Boris and
Bessie Thomashefsky. Tilson Thomas studied at the
University of Southern California under
Ingolf Dahl, among others. As a student of
Friedelind Wagner, Tilson Thomas was a Musical Assistant and Assistant Conductor at the
Bayreuth Festival.
Career
In 1969 Tilson Thomas made his conducting debut with the
Boston Symphony Orchestra, replacing an unwell
William Steinberg in mid-concert. He stayed with the Boston ensemble as an assistant conductor until 1974 and made several recordings with the orchestra for
Deutsche Grammophon (which have been reissued on CD). He was
music director of the
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra from 1971 to 1979. He made recordings for
Columbia Records in Buffalo.
[1] During much of the time from 1971 to 1977, he also conducted the series of
Young People's Concerts with the
New York Philharmonic. From 1981 to 1985 he was principal guest conductor of the
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Tilson Thomas founded the
New World Symphony in
Miami, Florida in 1987, a premier orchestral academy for gifted young musicians whose stated mission is “...to prepare highly-gifted graduates of distinguished music programs for leadership roles in orchestras and ensembles around the world.”
[2] Tilson Thomas remains involved, currently serving as the academy's artistic director. From 1988 to 1995, he was principal conductor of the
London Symphony Orchestra, and since 1995 has held the title of principal guest conductor with the LSO. In 1995, he became music director of the San Francisco Symphony.
Tilson Thomas has conducted a wide variety of music, and is a particular champion of modern American works, recording the complete symphonies of
Charles Ives and the premiere recording of
Steve Reich's
The Desert Music
(1984). Reich's composition
The Four Sections
(1987) was actually commissioned for the
San Francisco Symphony and dedicated to Tilson Thomas.
[3] [4] The piece premiered with Tilson Thomas in
San Francisco and was later recorded for
Nonesuch with the
London Symphony Orchestra. He is also renowned for his interpretation of the works of
Gustav Mahler, and since the death of
Leonard Bernstein he is considered the world's premier interpreter of the works of
Aaron Copland. Tilson Thomas has also recorded the cycle of Nine Symphonies of
Gustav Mahler with the San Francisco Symphony. These recordings have been released on the high resolution audio format,
Super Audio CD on the San Francisco Symphony's own recording label.
A sampling of Tilson Thomas's own compositions include
From the Diary of Anne Frank
(1990),
[5] Shówa/Shoáh
(1995),
[6] memorializing the fiftieth anniversary of the bombing of
Hiroshima;
Poems of Emily Dickinson
(2002);
[7] and
Urban Legend
(2002).
[8]
Tilson Thomas's 1976 recording of
George Gershwin's
Rhapsody in Blue
with the Columbia Jazz Band featured not only the original 1924 jazz band arrangement (as opposed to the more popular symphony orchestra arrangement, written in 1942), but also the piano part "played" by the late composer, via a piano roll Gershwin himself made in 1925.
Tilson Thomas hosts the
Keeping Score
television series, three one-hour documentary-style episodes and two live-concert programs which began airing nationally on
PBS stations in early November 2006. The shows detail Beethoven's 3rd Symphony (
Eroica
), Stravinsky's
Rite of Spring
, and Aaron Copland/American Music. They have been compared to Leonard Bernstein’s
Young People's Concerts
which aired in the 1960s.
[9]
In April 2005 he conducted the
Carnegie Hall premiere of
Remembrances of Thomashefsky's Yiddish Theater
.
[10]
Tilson joined-up with YouTube in 2009 to help create the
YouTube Symphony Orchestra, an orchestra whose members were selected from 30 countries based on more than 3,000 video auditions on YouTube. The Orchestra, as well as soloists Mason Bates, Measha Brueggergosman, Joshua Roman, Gil Shaham, Yuja Wang, Anna Larsen, Charlie Lui, Derek Wang, participated in classical music summit in New York City at the Juilliard School over three days. The event culminated in a live concert at Carnegie Hall on Wednesday, April 15. The concert was later made available on YouTube.
[11]
Quotations
Responding to an interviewer's question about favorite composers:
“
| You can't have Bach, Mozart and Beethoven as your favorite composers: They simply define what music is!
| ”
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Awards
Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance
- 2006 Conducting San Francisco Symphony, performing Mahler: Symphony No. 7
.
- 2003 Conducting the San Francisco Symphony, performing Mahler: Symphony No. 6
.
- 2000 Conducting the Peninsula Boys Choir, the San Francisco Girls Chorus, the San Francisco Symphony and Chorus, performing Stravinsky: The Firebird
; The Rite of Spring
; Perséphone
.
- 1997 Conducting the San Francisco Symphony, performing Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet (scenes)
.
Grammy Award for Best Classical Album
- 2006 Conducting San Francisco Symphony, performing Mahler: Symphony No. 7
.
- 2004 Conducting San Francisco Symphony, performing Mahler: Symphony No. 3
, Kindertotenlieder''.
- 2000 Conducting the Peninsula Boys Choir, the San Francisco Girls Chorus, the San Francisco Symphony and Chorus, performing Stravinsky: The Firebird
; The Rite of Spring
; Perséphone
.
Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance
- 1976 Conducting the Cleveland Boys Choir and Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, performing Orff: Carmina Burana
See also
- San Francisco Symphony
- San Francisco Symphony Chorus
- New World Symphony Orchestra
References
- Michael Tilson Thomas: BPO Music Director, 1971-79
- New World Symphony Statement of Purpose
- Concert: Philharmonic Plays Reich
- Program Notes
- Michael Tilson Thomas: ''From the Diary of Anne Frank''
- Michael Tilson Thomas: ''Shówa/Shoáh''
- Michael Tilson Thomas: ''Poems of Emily Dickinson''
- Michael Tilson Thomas: ''Urban Legend''
- Updating ‘Uncle Lenny’ for a Multitasking Age
- Project Recalls Yiddish Theater Legends
- Source http://www.nycartsandentertainment.com/youtube_symphony_orchestra