South Florida Classical Review

Michael Tilson Thomas led his final concert with the New World Symphony Sunday in Miami Beach. Photo: Alex Markow

Sometimes the occasion of a concert can make the musical performance even more powerful and unforgettable.

Such was the case on Sunday afternoon at the New World Center when artistic director laureate Michael Tilson Thomas led his final concert with the New World Symphony, culminating thirty-seven years of making music in South Florida.

The conductor has been heroically battling brain cancer since 2021 while continuing to lead orchestras, both in the United States and internationally. This weekend’s New World concerts marked his penultimate podium appearance. (Tilson Thomas’s final performance is scheduled for April 26 with the San Francisco Symphony, where he was music director for 25 years and brought that ensemble to worldwide acclaim.)

The atmosphere in the hall was super-charged. A full house was on hand to pay tribute to the orchestral academy’s co-founder and artistic visionary. Side terraces and even the satellite stages above the main performing platform were fully populated. 

Several alumni musicians were on hand, both as coaches and performing in the orchestra., Video tributes to MTT by Miami Beach Vice Mayor Tanya K. Bhatt and numerous former players were shown between selections. For musicians and listeners alike, the afternoon proved highly emotional. It was both a celebration of 37 years of distinguished music making and a farewell to an artist who, in no small way, changed the musical landscape of South Florida.

The program opened with former New World principal guest conductor Alasdair Neale taking the podium for a taut, lithe performance of the Overture to Mozart’s Don Giovanni. This was spirited, period-aware Mozart, with the instrumental balances well proportioned.

Tilson Thomas entered the stage with pianist Jeremy Denk (a late change from the originally scheduled soloist Yefim Bronfman). As the entire audience rose, the conductor responded by having Denk bow as is traditional and asking the orchestra members to rise, graciously allowing his collaborators to share in the warm ovation.

Denk’s vehicle was Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat major. The concerto’s opening orchestral tutti was infused with life but the music’s more dramatic undercurrents were equally present. Digitally agile and note perfect, Denk brought an individual sensibility to every phrase.

The pianist tackled the first movement cadenza with flawless articulation and a subtly quirky touch. He brought grace to the aria-like writing of the Andantino. The finale’s main subject was given incisive spirit by Tilson Thomas and the players. Denk followed with a vivacious, almost jazzy iteration. The movement’s Baroque-infused contrapuntal writing emerged clean and uniform and the score sparkled with the gleam of comic opera. 

Tilson Thomas made every layer of the instrumental fabric clearly audible, aided by the hall’s superb acoustic. The finale’s main subject was given incisive spirit by the conductor and New World players.

Another of the afternoon’s many standing ovations brought a unique encore from Denk. Like Tilson Thomas, he is an advocate and superb interpreter of the music of Charles Ives. With the conductor taking the concertmaster’s seat to listen, Denk offered “The Alcotts,” the third movement of Ives’ epic Concord Piano Sonata. Playing on a darkened stage, Denk fully captured Ives’ iconoclastic spirit, bringing out both the poetic lyricism and wit of Ives’ creation. The wrong notes depicting the sisters’ attempt to play the famous opening theme from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony was especially wryly captured.

Photo: Alex Markow

That iconic four-note motto rang out impressively for the ensuing performance of the symphony, which concluded the concert (as it did at the New World Symphony’s first public concert on February 4, 1988). In recent years, Tilson Thomas’ Beethoven readings have presented a mix of Central European warmth and the austere structural firmness of such past masters of the repertoire as Klemperer, Walter and Bernstein, one of the conductor’s mentors. He maintained tension and pulse throughout the first movement and achieved rich tonal production across all sections. The accuracy of the two horns was particularly notable. The fellows rose to the occasion, producing playing that was world class.

The Andante con moto showcased Tilson Thomas’ ability to mold and shape a score’s large scale while giving attention to specific details and patterns. His ability to make the most familiar works sound new and fresh was vividly on display, almost as if he was creating the score in the moment. He kept the tension level high in the Scherzo. The seven basses attacked the trio figures (which musicians dread in auditions) in vigorous, buoyant fashion. 

Tilson Thomas gave prominence to the important timpani part in the transition to the finale. Brass rang out triumphantly and the momentum carried a feeling of inevitability. Even the most familiar turn of phrase was given impact and the final blazing C major proclamation put an exclamation point on a memorable performance.

Tilson Thomas conducted standing throughout the program and exuded considerable vigor on the podium if in a more low-key style then former times. He responded to the cheers with an encore of Grieg’s The Last Spring. Tilson Thomas shaped the wistful line beautifully while giving full measure to Grieg’s distinctive Norwegian musical voice. The strings exuded sweetness and precision. 

Earlier in the afternoon, he told the audience that seeing former New World fellows in nearly every orchestra around the world on his conducting travels was his great joy. Now, it was the players’ turn to pay him a final tribute. At their urging, he repeated the Grieg vignette, which was played even more beautifully.

Tilson Thomas’ husband and long-time manager Joshua Robison came on stage and presented him with a rose. With Robison at his side, the conductor took several curtain calls before waving goodbye to players and listeners. 

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Following the concert, Philip Payton, a New World follow in 1996-2000 and now a New York based freelance player, said Tilson Thomas “instilled a real love of music in me. He brings out the joy in music making which is not always present in the field.”  

For Kristin Bruja, principal bass of the Minnesota Orchestra and a New World member in 2000-2004, “the way he approaches music is like no other conductor. He opens your mind and makes you think.” (Bruja and Payton both returned to take part in the concert.) 

First year oboe fellow Andrew Port recalled that “Tilson Thomas’s presence has been part of my life” through his recordings and television series Keeping Score. For Port, playing in the conductor’s final Miami concert was an honor and the fulfillment of a dream.

Indeed, the 1,300 players who have passed through the organization’s program may be Tilson Thomas’ greatest legacy. Joining ensembles around the world, they have contributed greatly to improving orchestral standards. Tilson Thomas’ influence on the music world (including South Florida) will be felt for decades to come. His final New World concert was a wonderful tribute to his vision and lasting influence.

Alasdair Neale conducts the New World Symphony in Rossini’s Overture to La gazza ladra, Haydn’s Symphony No. 103 (“Drumroll”) and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 (“Pastoral”)  7:30 p.m. April 5 and 2 p.m. April 6 at the New World Center in Miami Beach. nws.edu

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