All-Rounder and Ambitious Promoter

 Miami Beach on a balmy winter evening. Along Lincoln Mall, the pedestrian and restaurant mile in the downtown area, people are eating, drinking and celebrating with loud Latino sounds in the background. Only a block away from this hurly-burly, there are about 200 listeners in a public park engrossed in Antonín Dvoráks concert in b-minor for cello and orchestra. A sophisticated sound system broadcasts the performance by the German-Canadian soloist Johannes Moser with impressive sound quality across the entire palm-tree adorned green space.
    A little old lady of about 80 in green poncho and beret tentatively sits down next to me of a narrow board. Fascinated, she looks at the 650 square meter large building facade at the front end of the park. True to the rhythm of the music, sometimes individual musicians are projected against the wall, sometimes a part of the orchestra. "Is this live?" asks the lady suddenly, her eyes shining. "Are they really playing inside what we are seeing and hearing right now here on the outside?" Yes, madam! Open-air concerts of this kind are now and will be in the future a gift by Michael Tilson Thomas to the population of Miami Beach. To be exact, it is a joint gift by Tilson Thomas – in short MTT – und his friend Frank Gehry. The two men have known each other for close to 60 years. The star architect was young Michael's babysitter for a while, when he himself was a teenager. Smiling, Gehry remembers how young Michael used to get on his nerves at times, how he had demonstrated a robust self-confidence even early on and how he used to have  an opinion on anything and anybody. Nevertheless, or perhaps because of it, the two have been very close friends ever since that time.

Simple Design, Complex Content

    This is why Michael Tilson Thomas approached Frank Gehry a few years ago when he was searching for a new home for his New World Symphony. He had founded this elite workshop for aspiring orchestra musicians; but after a decade, it was technically obsolete and bursting at the seams. Not only did Gehry create a feather-light cube-type construct that harmoniously integrates itself in the surrounding Art Deco buildings, he also fulfilled a long-standing, dear wish of his old friend: he designed a  "Meeting Place for Interaction Through Music" conceived as a kind of lab that engages in a completely novel approach to the researching, teaching and sharing of music. For example, there is a concert hall that is easily adaptable to completely different musical formats; or there are the sail-shaped acoustics panels that are also suitable as screens for film presentations as accompaniment to the music. The new campus finally offers students enough room to rehearse. But thanks to internet 2, they can also communicate in real time with other students, conductors and soloists, regardless of whether they are in Tokyo, New York or Vienna.
    Every year, Michael Tilson Thomas invests ten weeks of his time in the New World Symphony. This is time that the sought-after artist could use for lucrative performances. But he cannot help it that cultivating young talent and teaching music are among his greatest aspirations and talents. These goals are not only confirmed in conversations with students in Miami Beach, all of whom describe MTT as a loving, patient and tireless helper. It also becomes evident, for example, in the multimedia project "Keeping Score." The award-winning TV, radio, DVD, CD and internet series has not only won prizes and distinctions but is a rare pearl in the jewelry box of seasoned classical fans and interested newcomers alike.

In the Tradition of the Grandparents

    In a highly ostentatious production, MTT showcases the entire spectrum of his knowledge and gifts. This also includes a considerable portion of showmanship. Anybody learning about the maestro's family background quickly realizes the origin of this talent: his grandparents Boris and Bessie on his father's side immigrated in 1880 to the United States, penniless teenagers from Ukraine. At first, Boris found a job rolling cigarettes on Manhatten's Lower East Side, while Bessie worked as a seamstress. But soon the young couple rose to stardom in true American picture-book fashion. "Among the then-large Jewish community in the United States, they were super stars like Richard Burton and Elisabeth Taylor," relates Tilson Thomas. "They were pioneers of Yiddish theater." Their program included premieres of avant-garde works by authors like  Ibsen, Chekhov or Wilde as well as pieces taken from the so-called "Proletarian Theater."
    Michael Tilson Thomas never got to know his grandfather Boris. He died five years before Michael was born, after a wild life dotted by countless love affairs. But his libertine lifestyle did no harm to his popularity. 30,000 mourners lined the streets upon his death in 1939 to bid their idol a last farewell.

Youth Full of Inspiration

    After the separation from her faithless husband – widely chronicled in the newspaper headlines of the day –, Bessie moved to the Western part of the United States to be close to her son Ted. Son Ted, who had shortened his name, had also tried his luck in the American entertainment industry. But unlike his father, Ted faltered. Therefore, money was always rather a scarce commodity in Tilson Thomas‘ parental home in North Hollywood. Nevertheless, the rooms were always filled with music, laughter and illustrious guests from all over the world: "As a child, these were an interesting blend of popular character actors, famous scientists, intellectuals of the Vienna tradition and famous virtuosos such as Heifetz und Piatigorsky," recalls Tilson Thomas.
    Grandma Bessie was also a frequent guest at the Thomas home. Little Michael adored the red-haired lady with the elegant cigarette holder. He loved rummaging with her through trunks searching for old costumes, manuscripts and photos. He hung on her lips when she told of her time with the theater and when she entertained the guests during a soirée with one of her legendary songs.
    To prevent the pioneering efforts by his grandparents from falling into oblivion, the grandson dedicated a stage show to them. For many years, the project was nothing more than a " work in progress." Performances were sporadic, the first in 2005, the most recent for now last year at New York's Lincoln Center. However, at the end of March, the production will be broadcast for the first time by the American public television station PBS. A month later, it will appear on DVD. "The evening that I arranged tells the story of the grandparents," explains Tilson Thomas, "but it also tells the story of a whole generation." Many of their shows, he explains, dealt with the problems facing Jewish immigrants 100, 120 years ago and that today, generations later, still confront other immigrant groups. "At issue are questions surrounding identity, assimilation, women's rights, capital versus work, all issues that my grandparents dealt with in their songs – songs that became songs for young people who themselves were just then going through these changes."

Rita Schwarzer is a journalist. She lives in the United States and in Switzerland.