But a large symphony orchestra basically is a repertory company and it has a very enormous repertoire and it is important for the performers to be able to know how to shift focus so that they instantly become part of the sound world that a particular repertoire demands. Michael Tilson Thomas Read Quote
Being a conductor is kind of a hybrid profession because most fundamentally, it is being someone who is a coach, a trainer, an editor, a director. Michael Tilson Thomas Read Quote
But without the experience of actually singing or playing these things yourself, you don’t have the same kind of involvement or understanding of what these musical moves mean. And that is a very big problem in addressing the future of music. Michael Tilson Thomas Read Quote
They are representations of many shared hours of collaboration between us all. That’s the real nature of the relationship the orchestra and I are trying to build. Michael Tilson Thomas Read Quote
The whole path of American music has been so much about the recognition of stylistic diversity, and the recognition of the importance of music which was from one of the vernacular traditions. Michael Tilson Thomas Read Quote
It’s kind of scary sometimes, I’ve seen this a lot in Asia. Children are given music lessons, very intensively I might add and involving great technical expertise sometimes, but you can tell that they have been told only to play happy pleasant music. Michael Tilson Thomas Read Quote
In earlier times, so many people sang much more. You know as a kid you’d go to some kind of religious training and or summer camp or whatever it was and you’d learn to sing a lot of songs. Michael Tilson Thomas Read Quote
If we are able to get inside the music and inhabit it convincingly enough, it will cause everyone to find each other in this new psychological space. And that’s most exciting. Michael Tilson Thomas Read Quote
I can’t do pieces I only admire technically. I have to feel some direct contact with them. Michael Tilson Thomas Read Quote
Extreme volume in music very often disguises a lack of actually important content. Michael Tilson Thomas Read Quote
