It sucks growing old

Volkonski · #1202

Feeling old now.

When I started college in Boston in 1969 Erich Leinsdorf had just left as conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The BSO brought in William Steinberg, then conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony, part-time to replace him while they looked for a new permanent conductor.

Steinberg's health was poor so many of the BSO concerts and recordings were conducted by the young assistant conductor, Michael Tilson Thomas. Normally young assistant conductors help prepare performances but they almost never actually conduct public performances.

So MTM found himself under the microscope of the critics and BSO fans very early in his career.

Many BSO fans were not happy about that state of affairs. Some of my fellow student BSO fans took to referring to MTM as "Tinsel Tonsils".

MTM survived.

News this week-

Michael Tilson Thomas Suffers from Confusion at London Symphony Orchestra

https://theviolinchannel.com/michael-ti ... orchestra/

Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas suffered from a bout of confusion during a recent performance of Mahler's Third Symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) at the Barbican. The 79-year-old conductor has been facing various health struggles: in 2021, he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer and underwent surgery to treat it.

Since that time, Tilson Thomas has scaled back his conducting activities. Recent engagements have included four concerts with the New York Philharmonic in March 2023 and a week of concerts with the San Francisco Symphony in early 2024.

On May 12, 2024, Tilson Thomas was leading Mahler 3 with the LSO, mezzo-soprano Alice Coote, and the combined forces of the Tiffin Boys' Choir with the women of the London Symphony Chorus. As reported in The Telegraph, Tilson Thomas got up from the podium partway through and closed his score, "telling the audience cheerily they’d been listening to an extended warm-up." He appeared to think that the performance was a rehearsal.

Coote, as well as some of the players of the orchestra, then gently reminded Tilson Thomas of his surroundings, and after a short delay, Tilson Thomas regrouped and returned to conduct the work's final movement. The performance concluded with a standing ovation.