Michael Tilson Thomas “wears his elder-statesman mantle lightly, even with a kind of incredulity,” writes Anne Midgette in Sunday’s (12/8) Washington Post. “He’s ‘MTT,’ music director of the San Francisco Symphony, co-founder of the New World Symphony in Florida…. MTT [is] this year one of the artists receiving Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime achievement…. In 1987, Thomas co-founded the New World Symphony, a unique training orchestra for young professional musicians…. Among the highlights of his tenure [at the San Francisco Symphony] have been a well-received cycle of Mahler symphonies; a wildly ambitious video, audio and Internet project called Keeping Score … and programs including an American Mavericks series …. The New World Symphony is one of the orchestra world’s success stories [and] has also become a showpiece of Miami’s cultural scene…. ‘When he gives a soloist a cue,’ [San Francisco Symphony piccolo player Catherine Payne] says, … ‘He looks at you like, “This is going to be the most beautiful thing ever. Show me what you can do.” ’ ” The Kennedy Center Honors were presented on December 8 in Washington, D.C. Other 2019 honorees were Linda Ronstadt, Earth Wind & Fire, Sesame Street, and Sally Field.
Posted December 9, 2019
In photo: Michael Tilson Thomas conducts the San Francisco Symphony. Photo by Kristen Loken
