San Francisco Symphony

MTT and members of the SF Symphony in front of a cable car, 1998

1998–99

A CULTURAL LEADER

MTT’s fourth season kicks off with a national event when the San Francisco Symphony opens at Carnegie Hall with a centennial tribute to George Gershwin. The concert is broadcast on PBS’s Great Performances. 1998–99 also sees MTT demonstrating his love of Stravinsky in a festival devoted to the composer. Thoughtfully curated and crafted explorations of Stravinsky’s sacred works, Stravinsky in America, and Stravinsky’s Russia are vibrant, exuberant, irrepressible. MTT is heralded for not only being a remarkable conductor but a music director in the most profound sense: a “dynamic cultural leader who can proselytize, educate, reach out to composers, schools, other artistic organizations.”

BY GEORGE: CARNEGIE HALL GALA GERSHWIN CELEBRATION

MTT and the San Francisco Symphony open the 1998–99 season at Carnegie Hall and at home with a blowout centennial tribute to George Gershwin—and longtime MTT friend, actress and singer Audra McDonald, makes her Carnegie debut at these performances. Also lighting up the stage: Tony-winning actor and singer Brian Stokes Mitchell, opera superstar Frederica von Stade, and esteemed pianist Garrick Ohlsson.

INFLUENCERS: MTT’S STRAVINSKY FESTIVAL

In June 1999, MTT presents an eye-opening, ear-stretching Stravinsky Festival, one that is uniquely framed by his personal connection with the composer. “Growing up in Los Angeles gave me the opportunity to hear and meet Stravinsky on many occasions,” MTT shares. “The sound of his voice singing his pieces is still the greatest influence on my approach to his music.” The concerts are insightful and edgy, and night after night, audiences erupt in cheers. In the presence of such music making and the festival’s fascinating programming, there is no doubt that MTT has led the San Francisco Symphony squarely into the ranks of America’s top 5 orchestras.

If there were any lingering doubts that Tilson Thomas and San Francisco fit together marvelously, last month’s Stravinsky Festival eradicated them. . . . Tilson Thomas has built an audience that now seems willing and ready to follow him anywhere. He has appealed to the most adventurous urges in the community, and the community has responded with fervor. ”

— Allan Ulrich, San Francisco Examiner

Growing up in Los Angeles gave me the opportunity to hear and meet Stravinsky on many occasions. Since my earliest childhood, he was one of my favorite composers. I had literally played through my parents’ wartime 78 rpm records of Petrushka and Le Sacre du printemps and sung the bits of quoted folk tunes along with my Russian grandmother. ”

— Michael Tilson Thomas

Recordings

National Tour

The September 1998 National Tour, sponsored by Visa, featured vocalists Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell and mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade.
MTT also performed as soloist in Gershwin’s Second Rhapsody for Orchestra with Piano.

New York, NY, Carnegie Hall (Opening Gala)

Greenvale, NY, Tilles Center for the Performing Arts

Ann Arbor, MI, Hill Auditorium

European Tour

The January–February 1999 Visa European Tour included appearances by violinist Gil Shaham and sopranos Christine Brewer and Dawn Upshaw.

Dublin, Ireland, National Concert Hall

London, England, Barbican Centre

Madrid, Spain, Auditorio Nacional de Música

Murcia, Spain, Auditorio y Centro de Congresos

Valencia, Spain, Palau de la Música

Barcelona, Spain, Palau de la Música

Toulouse, France, Halle aux Grains B Toulouse

Paris, France, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées

Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Concertgebouw

Hannover, Germany, Kuppelsaal

Hamburg, Germany, Grosse Musikhalle

Frankfurt, Germany, Alte Oper

Brussels, Belgium, Palais des Beaux Arts

Vienna, Austria, Grosser Saal, Musikvereinssaal

MTT and Gil Shaham backstage at London’s Barbican Centre, 1999

MTT and the SF Symphony bow at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris, 1999

I was a young associate principal oboe in 1999 when the Orchestra went on tour to Europe. We were performing the song cycle by Canteloube, and it has a very exposed oboe part—a big opportunity for me during that time. One night, after the concert in Madrid, Michael calls me to see him. He then told me the story that his grandmother shared with him when he was a little boy. One night, she brought him on the stage of the Shubert Theater in New York—just an empty stage, dark house, no people. She said, ‘Michael, look up, way up, all the way to the last seats above the gallery. There you will see the illuminated EXIT signs. Remember, the people who sit by these signs have paid for their tickets the least, but they care about the show the most. Make sure whatever you do here on the stage gets all the way to them. Aim for these signs.’

Just like that, he transformed my idea of what it means to perform for an audience and have the perspective of presenting what we do on the stage to a concert hall full of people. That was a huge conceptual change for me, to be able to deliver my part with the eyes and ears of a performer, and no longer just play within the confines of my place on the stage. It was amazing—powerful and liberating. I tell this story to all of my students.

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