Entering his nineteenth season, Michael Tilson Thomas now holds two notable distinctions: He is the longest-serving San Francisco Symphony Music Director, having surpassed the legendary Pierre Monteux (1935-52); and is also the longest-tenured active music director of any major American orchestra. But the journey doesn’t stop there, as MTT and the Orchestra take another leap forward with two vastly different theatrical projects that bookend the 2013–14 season.
TODAY’S PICK
Debussy’s Jeux, an SFS Media release recorded in 2013
Somehow, Somewhere: West Side Story
With music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreography by Jerome Robbins, West Side Story has been a sensation from the moment it captured America’s heart in 1957. The combination of Bernstein, MTT, and the San Francisco Symphony is a proven winner, as semi-staged performances of On the Town in 1996 and Carnegie Hall’s glitzy all-Bernstein gala concert in 2008 attest. The stars align in 2013 when MTT and the San Francisco Symphony and Chorus, and a winning cast of singing actors, including Cheyenne Jackson as Tony and Alexandra Silber as Maria, present the first ever complete concert performances of Bernstein’s score for West Side Story. It’s a revelatory hit and the resulting SFS Media recording goes toe-to-toe with Broadway’s best for Best Musical Theater Album at the Grammys.




Seaside Turmoil: Britten’s Peter Grimes
Over the years, Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony have quietly made their case for consideration among the world’s elite opera orchestras. Semi-staged performances of Britten’s opera Peter Grimes, part of the San Francisco Symphony’s season-long Britten focus in 2013-14, offer further evidence. Bringing Britten’s tormented fisherman to life is the great Stuart Skelton, while the astounding supporting cast is led by Elza van den Heever as Ellen Orford and baritone Alan Opie as Captain Balstrode. The striking production, capping worldwide celebrations of Britten’s birth centennial, reunites MTT and the Orchestra with stage director James Darrah and video designer Adam Larsen. The result is a deeply human exploration of the complex psychological underpinnings of Britten’s work.





MUSICIAN APPOINTMENTS
Jacob Nissly (Principal Percussion)
PREMIERES
Zosha Di Castri: Lineage
(West Coast premiere, San Francisco Symphony co-commission with the New World Symphony)
Gordon Getty: A Prayer for My Daughter
(World premiere)
Recordings


2013–14 Tours

Pianist Jeremy Denk was soloist on the November 2013 National Tour.
New York, NY, Carnegie Hall
Urbana-Champaign, IL, Krannert Center
Ann Arbor, MI, Hill Auditorium, University of Michigan
The March 2014 European Tour saw the European premiere of John Adams’s Absolute Jest and also featured appearances from mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and violinist Julia Fischer.
Birmingham, United Kingdom, Symphony Hall
London, United Kingdom, Royal Festival Hall
Paris, France, Salle Pleyel
Geneva, Switzerland, Victoria Hall
Dortmund, Germany, Dortmund Konzerthaus
Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Luxembourg Philharmonie
Prague, Czech Republic, Smetana Hall
Vienna, Austria, Grosser Saal
