Michael Tilson Thomas’ The Thomashefskys to Be Part of New York Philharmonic Season

Michael Tilson Thomas will conduct and host The Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in Yiddish Theater, as part of the New York Philharmonic 2010-2011 season. Directed by Patricia Birch, it will be presented April 5-6, 2011.

This multimedia evening celebrates Thomas’ grandparents, Bessie and Boris Thomashefsky, by following these Eastern European immigrants who played major roles in the development of American Yiddish theater, a central part of life on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The Thomashefskys re-creates the atmosphere of the time through music, costumes, and projections of film clips, archival photos, posters, and other memorabilia. The performance will include a 30-piece orchestra, and four principal performers to be announced.

The Philharmonic’s 169th season will open with a gala event on September 22, which will include a U.S. premiere by Wynton Marsalis, performed with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Other highlights will include the rarely staged Cunning Little Vixen, directed by Douglas Fitch and conducted by Alan Gilbert (June 22-25); the New York premiere of Thomas Ade’s concerto In Seven Days (January 6-8); and the world premiere of Aaron Jay Kernis’s a Voice, a Messenger (December 28-30).

For more information, visit nyphil.org.