Not many conductors have a hall named after them, but earlier this month, Miami’s New World Symphony retitled its concert space the Michael Tilson Thomas Concert Hall. Tilson Thomas co-founded the organisation in 1987 but stood down as its artistic director earlier this year after being diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer.
Amazingly, he hasn’t abandoned his conducting commitments; yesterday he once again stood in front of the London Symphony Orchestra and a packed auditorium. MTT, as he’s widely known, has a long relationship with this orchestra, of which he was principal conductor from 1988 to 1995. He now holds the title of its conductor laureate, a token of the players’ esteem and even affection. As he walked onstage with the evening’s soloist, Czech pianist, Lukáš VondráÄek, the applause was generous. It was no disrespect to VondráÄek that when he sat down, the clapping got louder still, MTT acknowledging it with the briefest fist-pump before getting down to business.
