MTT25: An American Icon
Produced by SFS Media in collaboration with Lumahai Productions June 2020
Hosted by Audra McDonald & Susan Graham
MTT25
A calvacade of stars — from Bonnie Raitt to Yo-Yo Ma, Lars Ulrich to Renée Fleming, Patrick Stewart to Nancy Pelosi — turned out to pay tribute to their dear friend Michael Tilson Thomas, as he wrapped up 25 glorious years at the San Francisco Symphony (where I sang in his chorus for his first five years!). A show of artistry, generosity, and joy for their treasured friend and collaborator, featuring touching performances from around the world, including Audra serenading him with “Make Someone Happy,” and Susie kicking off a zany, delightful finale with a host of pals (which I don’t want to scoop). You gotta see it!
Susie adding her magic from Santa Fe. Thrilled to join forces with Molly McBride & SFS’s Oliver Theil (above) to make this show - in less than six weeks!
Sasha Cooke serenaded MTT with his song, “Not Everyone Thinks That I’m Beautiful.”
From her perch in Canada, Measha Brueggergosman premiered a new MTT song set to Emily Dickinson.
Julia Bullock & Christian Reif shared an intimate performance of Charles Ives’ “Berceuse” from Munich. (Photo courtesy SFS)
Isabel Leonard, who has performed On The Town with MTT and the SFS, sang “Some Other Time.”
Gautier Capuçon played a little “Gymnopédie” from France.
The San Francisco Symphony offered a stirring tribute: the final moments of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. (Video Editor Pete Scalzitti / Audio Editor Jack Vad / Photo courtesy SFS)
Too many people to even begin to thank, but a shout out to the Lumahai production team:
Molly McBride (Director & Producer), Ras Dia (Associate Producer), John Bischoff (Co-Writer), Bob Huott (Audio Producer/Audio Engineer) & Ed Hartley (Audio Engineer), abetted by Jump Cut and the team at Hell's Color Kitchen.
And Audra & Susie for being such generous and incredible hosts!