MTT and His "Discovery Concert"

Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony are hosting  a most innovative event on Sunday, September 18 at 2pm: A “Discovery Concert” featuring Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. This is a new concert format with which we are experimenting, and a concept that is very near and dear to MTT’s heart. 

The first half of the event is comprised of a lecture-demonstration led by MTT. His conversation with the audience will incorporate demonstrations at the piano, projections that illustrate other works of music, literature and art that provide context around Beethoven’s Fifth, and orchestral and choral excerpts from related works by Beethoven, Monteverdi, and J.S. Bach (excerpts will be performed by the SF Symphony and members of the SFS Chorus).  The second half of the program will be a full-length performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.

 Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony have released five separate Beethoven recordings on SFS Media, the Orchestra’s Grammy Award-winning recording label. 

The most recent recording was released in November 2015 and features Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 featuring Emanuel Ax and Mass in C major. This recording joins four previous SFS Media recordings of Beethoven’s music by MTT and the San Francisco Symphony, and a Keeping Score documentary and concert of the composer’s Symphony No. 3, Eroica, available on DVD and Blu-ray. Of their recording of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in 2011, Donald Rosenberg wrote in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, “Tilson Thomas leads a forceful, nuanced account of Beethoven's Fifth that shows his San Francisco Symphony to be in prime health.” 

MTT and the SFS also recorded and released Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and Leonore Overture No. 3. Beethoven recordings featuring the Grammy Award-winning San Francisco Symphony Chorus include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and his Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II and Symphony No. 2. Of MTT and the SFS’s Beethoven exploration, Blair Sanderson wrote on All Music.com, “Michael Tilson Thomas's super audio recordings of Beethoven's symphonies with the San Francisco Symphony deserve attention for their superb musicianship and extraordinary sound quality.”