Michael Tilson Thomas: Where Now Is
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Presented as part of PBS’ award-winning American Masters series, Michael Tilson Thomas: Where Now Is documents MTT’s life and career—from his childhood in California to his ascension to the world stage and leadership roles with the New World Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony. The documentary sheds light on formative experiences in MTT’s musical life—the central influence of his father, his first time hearing the music of James Brown, his early clashes with classical music orthodoxy—all of which shaped his personality, artistry, and goals along his path to becoming one of America’s most important musical figures. The film features original interviews with MTT and classical music luminaries, including composer Steve Reich; Los Angeles Philharmonic CEO Chad Smith; pianist Ralph Grierson; Boston Symphony Orchestra CEO Mark Volpe; San Francisco Chronicle music critic Joshua Kosman; the BBC’s former head of music and arts Humphrey Burton; and Clive Gillinson, executive and artistic director of Carnegie Hall, as well as commentary from world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, with whom MTT collaborated in designing the New World Center, and Joshua Robison, MTT’s husband and partner. The documentary incorporates concert footage from his youth through the present, performing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, and San Francisco Symphony, among other orchestras. The film also includes scenes from MTT’s day-to-day life at the New World Symphony, the postgraduate orchestral academy in Miami Beach that he co-founded in 1987 to prepare young musicians of diverse backgrounds for leadership roles in classical music. Most major American orchestras count New World Symphony alumni among their ranks, and several former Fellows were interviewed for the documentary. ___ Credits Directed by Susan Froemke and Kirk Simon • Edited by Deborah Dickson • Produced by Catherine Mulry Ludlow • Executive Producers Mina Farbook & Sarah Arison • Director of Photography Buddy Squires, Asc. • Associate Producer Michael Beuttler • Executive Producer for American Masters Michael Kantor
Creating Keeping Score remains one of the most exciting journeys the San Francisco Symphony and I have taken together. It offers real insight into the origins of the music and the devotion of the musicians who keep its message a living tradition. As we all navigate our brave new world, I take pride in being able to share with everyone the music and stories that hold such deep meaning to me and my Orchestra colleagues. Music connects us and has never been needed more. -- The groundbreaking Keeping Score project explores the motivations and influences behind major classical works by Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Copland, Stravinsky, Berlioz, Ives, Shostakovich, and Mahler. Launched in 2004, Keeping Score was designed to make classical music accessible to people of all ages and musical backgrounds through groundbreaking television, radio, and educational components. The video series pairs in-depth documentary explorations of composers and their music with concert performances by Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony captured at Davies Symphony Hall.
"The Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in the Yiddish Theater" premiered at Carnegie Hall in April 2005, with words and music brought to life for the first time in a century. The story’s lead characters are Bessie and Boris Thomashefsky, grandparents of Michael Tilson Thomas. Bessie and Boris emigrated to the United States from Eastern Europe in the 1880s and, while still in their teens, began to play major roles in the development of American Yiddish theatre. For Jewish immigrants of the late 19th and early 20th Century who settled on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the Yiddish theatre was central to their lives. It replaced touchstones of Eastern European life – the village marketplace, the temple, the rabbi – and provided a stage for the new ideas that were shaping the psychological, emotional, moral and educational transition to a new, American way of life. In The Thomashefskys, Michael Tilson Thomas serves as guide through the lives and repertoire of his grandparents. His grandfather died before he was born, but his grandmother lived until he was seventeen. His close relationship with her and many of her colleagues is a source of much of the material in the performance. “My grandparents became mega-stars,” says Tilson Thomas, “and found themselves smack in the public eye. They were subject to adulation and relentless scrutiny. Legions of crazed fans were obsessed with every detail of their work and their lives. It was a far cry from the simple Jewish family life in the Ukrainian villages of their origins. In the old country, there was already an answer to every question. Now, in a new land of total freedom, new unimagined questions were waiting around every glittering corner. “They wanted to use their theatre to explore these new questions and serve as a forum to search for possible answers. I marvel at what they attempted and how well they succeeded, from the classics to avant garde dramas, to original productions based on current events and contemporary Jewish life.” At the height of their influence they owned theatres in and out of New York, published their own magazine, The Yiddish Stage, wrote columns in the popular Yiddish newspapers of the day, sponsored and encouraged new generations of young artists, brought uncountable numbers of Yiddish artists to the United States, tirelessly raised funds for progressive social causes and, through it all, were adventurous trend setters. The end of unrestricted immigration and changing tastes of the first-born American generation caused the diminishing of their world. Nevertheless, in 1939 the New York Times reported that 30,000 people lined the streets of the Lower East Side on the occasion of Boris’ funeral. Bessie lived on until the early 1960s and, from her Hollywood Hotel, wryly witnessed the rises and falls of show business legends. Tilson Thomas shares the stage with a 30-piece orchestra and four principal performers who bring the repertoire and words of Bessie and Boris to life. All the material is authentic, researched and reconstructed by The Thomashefsky Project. The Project was founded in July 1998 in order to rescue the story of the Thomashefskys and early American Yiddish theatre’s contribution to American cultural life. Through its work, many disintegrating scores have been located and preserved to recreate as true a version of the original works as is possible. These reclaimed musical treasures present audiences with a musical sound that few have heard, integrating aspects of Eastern European klezmer and cantorial modes with American tones and rhythms. With time these components became more integrated and more American, as Eastern European Jewish composers became more engrossed in their new surroundings, greatly influencing composers like Irving Berlin and George Gershwin. A range of musical numbers performed in the show reflect this new, increasingly American, musical sound. Film clips and projections of archival photographs, posters and other memorabilia enhance the telling of this uniquely American tale.
Highlights from the life and career of Michael Tilson Thomas, who celebrates his 80th birthday on December 21, 2024

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