United States ‘A Concert for Michael Tilson Thomas’: Soloists, San Francisco Symphony Chorus (director: Jenny Wong), San Francisco Symphony / Teddy Abrams, Edwin Outwater (conductors). Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, 2.10.2026. (HS)
San Francisco Symphony’s celebration in Davies Symphony Hall resisted anything somber as it honored the memory of Michael Tilson Thomas who died earlier this year. Some of MTT’s favorite guest artists were there to perform and reminisce about when he led the orchestra as music director from 1995 to 2020. The program focused on composers he championed, reflecting his eclecticism as much as the esteem in which he was held. Every piece had a personal story, and musicians told them with humor and love. Photos and films ranging from his youth to pinnacles of his work flashed on screens suspended above the stage as one stellar performance followed another. Jamie Bernstein, Leonard Bernstein’s daughter, was there to describe how her father and MTT became longtime friends.
Every piece on the program was composed in the 20th or 21st century. The oldest (and longest) was the Andante moderato from Mahler’s Sixth Symphony, a reminder of a singular triumph in which Thomas insisted on going ahead with a concert only days after the 11 September 2001 attack on the Twin Towers. Edwin Outwater, who was assistant conductor at the time, cited it as an example of Thomas’s belief that music can heal, and he led a heartfelt and appropriately detailed, expressive performance. I was present for the 2001 concert, and it indeed salved our wounds. Not surprisingly, the live recording won a Grammy.
The other conductor for the three-hour show, Teddy Abrams (who was mentored by Thomas at the New World Symphony), kicked things off sprightly with John Adams’s Short Ride in a Fast Machine and finished the evening with Copland’s ‘The Promise of Living’ in a splendid performance with the Symphony’s Chorus.
Headliner soloists reflected MTT’s wide range of colleagues. Yuja Wang offered a dreamy Canzone: Moderato from Barber’s Piano Concerto (Abrams conducting), and a deftly crisp excerpt from Poulenc’s Piano Sonata for Four Hands with Abrams. Jean-Yves Thibaudet fashioned a soulfully sweet Adagio assai from Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major (Outwater on the podium).
On the vocal side, soprano Renée Fleming reprised her exquisite duet from the previous evening’s concert (review here) – Richard Strauss’s ‘Morgen!’ with concertmaster Alexander Barantschik. Again, gorgeous by both artists.
Audra McDonald, who can straddle pop, Broadway and classical, referenced Thomas’s memorable concert stagings of Leonard Bernstein’s Broadway musicals with superb renditions of ‘Some Other Time’ from On the Town and ‘Somewhere’ from West Side Story. She opened her set with ‘He Loves, She Loves’ from Gershwin’s Funny Face, framing it as a love letter to Thomas’s long personal partnership and eventual marriage with Joshua Robison. It also served as a nod to Thomas’s long-time connection with Gershwin’s music which appeared often on his programs. As for Bernstein, the chorus brought the first half to a rousing climax with the first movement of Chichester Psalms, conducted by Outwater with vigor.
MTT reveled in new music as much as the classics, and it is fitting that there were two world premieres on the program. The Symphony commissioned Mason Bates to set a father-son letter from MTT’s father as a song, performed with charm by mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and pianist Jeremy Denk. Constancy, a ruminative solo piano piece discovered among MTT’s notes, got a thoughtful performance by John Wilson, the orchestra’s regular pianist. Wilson also accompanied Cooke in a touching performance of ‘Ich lebe mein Leben’ from MTT’s song cycle Meditations on Rilke, a reminder of how good his own music could be.
It wouldn’t be a complete appreciation of Thomas without nods to the appeal of musical mavericks to him. Meredith Monk’s witty choral piece, ‘Panda Chant II’, opened the second half with a light touch, followed by a jaunty performance of midcentury California composer Lou Harrison’s straight-faced orchestration of John Cage’s tongue-in-cheek Suite for Toy Piano.
Charles Ives came up early, with Abrams conjuring a triumph with ‘Thanksgiving and Forefathers Day’ from A Symphony: New England Holidays, the chorus contributing a lusty hymn at the end. After the Copland finale, Abrams tacked on ‘Hoedown’ from the composer’s Rodeo as an encore.
After the encore, the congregated soloists took final bows wearing jerseys and jackets of various San Francisco pro athletic teams. Like these squads, the music contrasted familiar with weird, profound with fun and power with grace – all signature aspects of Michael Tilson Thomas’s life and, very much so, his concerts.
Harvey Steiman
John Adams – Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Barber – Canzone: Moderato from Piano Concerto (Yuja Wang, piano)
Ives – ‘Thanksgiving and Forefathers’ Day’ from A Symphony: New England Holidays
Ravel – Adagio assai from Piano Concerto in G major (Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano)
Gershwin – ‘He Loves and She Loves’ from Funny Face
Bernstein – ‘Some Other Time’ from On the Town; ‘Somewhere’ from West Side Story (Audra McDonald, vocalist; Bruce Forman, guitar); First movement from Chichester Psalms
Meredith Monk – ‘Panda Chant II’ from The Games (Jenny Wong, conductor)
Cage/Lou Harrison – Movements I, II, V from Suite for Toy Piano
Mahler – Andante moderato from Symphony No.6 in A minor
R. Strauss – ‘Morgen’ (Renée Fleming, soprano)
Michael Tilson Thomas – Constancy (world premiere); ‘Ich lebe mein Leben’ from Meditations on Rilke (Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano; John Wilson, piano)
Poulenc – Rustique and Finale from Piano Sonata for Four Hands (Yuja Wang, Teddy Abrams, piano)
Mason Bates (text: Ted Thomas) – ‘If you listen, there’s a song’ (world premiere, SFS Commission) (Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano; Jeremy Denk, piano)
Copland – ‘The Promise of Living’ from The Tender Land
Encore: Copland – ‘Hoedown’ from Rodeo