For beloved conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, a final bow from the podium

San Francisco — San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie had declared it Michael Tilson Thomas Day. City Hall glowed MTT’s trademark blue. Davies Symphony Hall, wherever Tilson Thomas presided implicit the San Francisco Symphony for an influential 4th century, was festooned with elephantine bluish balloons.

For Tilson Thomas, it each was the culmination of what helium declared successful February: “We each get to accidental the aged amusement concern expression, ‘It’s a wrap.’”

Despite starting attraction for an assertive signifier of encephalon crab successful summertime 2021, Tilson Thomas astonishingly continued to behaviour passim the U.S. and adjacent successful Europe for the adjacent 3 and a fractional years. But successful February helium learned that the tumor had returned, and the conductor declared past Saturday night’s San Francisco Symphony gala, billed arsenic an 80th tribute to this autochthonal Angeleno, would beryllium his past nationalist appearance.

He was led to the podium by his husband, Joshua Robison, who remained seated connected stage, keeping a watchful eye. Tilson Thomas started with Benjamin Britten’s Variations and Fugue connected a Theme by Purcell, amended known arsenic “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.” After assorted tributes and performances successful his honor, MTT, ever the large showman, went retired with a bang, starring a triumphant and mystical and stunningly glorious show of Respighi’s splashy “Roman Festivals.”

A opus from Leonard Bernstein’s “On the Town” — including the enactment “Where has the clip each gone to?” — followed arsenic an encore, sung by impermanent singers and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, conscionable earlier balloons joyfully fell from above.

For six decades, opening with his undergraduate years astatine USC — wherever helium attracted the attraction of Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland, Jascha Heifetz, Gregor Piatigorsky and the unusual stone ‘n’ rotation instrumentalist astir municipality — Tilson Thomas has been a joy-making cardinal fig successful American music.

To pin MTT down is an unreasonable task. He saw a bigger representation than immoderate large American conductor earlier him — his mentor and champion, Bernstein, included. With a pioneering consciousness of eclecticism, helium connected the dots betwixt John Cage and James Brown, betwixt Mahler and MTT’s celebrated grandfather, Boris Thomashefsky, a prima of the New York Yiddish theater.

Tilson Thomas has nurtured generations of young musicians and fixed dependable to outsiders greatly liable for American euphony becoming what it is. He treated mavericks arsenic icons — Meredith Monk and Lou Harrison among them.

The San Francisco performance could interaction connected small of this, but it did uncover thing of what makes MTT tick. In “Young Person’s Guide,” for instance, Tilson Thomas demonstrated an undying emotion of each facet of the orchestra arsenic good arsenic his lifelong devotion to education. As a 25-year-old Boston Symphony adjunct conductor, helium was speaking to audiences, sharing enthusiasm that not each uptight Bostonians were rather acceptable for.

Not agelong after, helium succeeded Bernstein successful the New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concerts. He made tv and vigor documentaries. In 1987, helium founded the New World Symphony successful Miami Beach, grooming orchestra musicians. Alumni are present engaged reinventing American orchestral life. In L.A., erstwhile New World violinist Shalini Vijayan curates the imaginative Koreatown caller euphony bid Tuesdays @ Monk Space.

With the young conductor Teddy Abrams astatine his broadside turning pages, Tilson Thomas treated “Young Person’s Guide” much arsenic a seasoned player’s usher to the orchestra. A hallmark of Tilson Thomas’ tenure successful San Francisco had been to promote a grade of escaped look typically stifled successful ensemble playing. Britten’s people is simply a riot of solos, and this clip astir they each seemed to beryllium saying, successful truthful galore notes: “This is for you Michael.”

Michael Tilson Thomas conduct’s Britten’s ‘Variations and Fugue connected a Theme of Purcell’ to unfastened his gala performance with the San Francisco Symphony astatine Davies Symphony Hall.

(Stefan Cohen / San Francisco Symphony)

This is for you, Michael, arsenic was each other that followed. While Tilson Thomas sat successful a seat astatine the beforehand of the signifier looking astatine the orchestra, Abrams — euphony manager of the Louisville Orchestra and a Berkeley autochthonal who began studying astatine property 9 with Tilson Thomas — led the rousing overture to Joseph Rumshinsky’s Yiddish theatre comedy, “Khantshe successful Amerike.” Bessie Thomashefsky, Tilson Thomas’ grandmother, was the archetypal Khantshe successful 1915.

Throughout his vocation Tilson Thomas has been an progressive composer, but lone successful caller years had helium yet began much actively releasing his pensive and wistful songs that served arsenic informal entrees successful a backstage journal. Mezzo soprano Sasha Cooke led disconnected with “Immer Wieder” to a poem by Rilke. Frederica von Stade, inactive vibrant-sounding astatine 79, joined her for “Not Everyone Thinks I’m Beautiful.”

The 2 songs tenor Ben Jones turned to, “Drift Off to Sleep” and “Answered Prayers,” were moving odes to melancholy. The Broadway vocalist Jessica Vosk — whose vocation successful amusement concern was launched erstwhile Tilson Thomas picked her retired of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus to beryllium a soloist successful “West Side Story” — lifted spirits with “Take Back Your Mink” from “Guys and Dolls,” but past reminded america wherefore we were each determination with Tilson Thomas’ “Sentimental Again.”

Cooke sang “Grace,” which Tilson Thomas wrote for Bernstein’s 70th day but which present took connected a brave caller meaning successful its last stanza: “Make america grateful immoderate comes adjacent / In this beingness connected world we’re sharing / For the information is / Life is good.”

Edwin Outwater, who got his commencement arsenic an adjunct conductor to Tilson Thomas successful San Francisco, led the inspirational finale of Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms” earlier Tilson Thomas returned to rise the extortion with “Roman Festivals.”

Respighi’s evocations of gladiators astatine the Circus Maximus, of aboriginal Christian pilgrims and different scenes of past Roman life, look a amazingly unusual epilogue to an all-American conductor’s storied career. But Tilson Thomas has ever been an arresting programmer, adjacent successful his 20s erstwhile helium served arsenic euphony manager of the Ojai festival. “Roman Festivals” has agelong been a Tilson Thomas favorite. He recorded it with the L.A. Phil successful 1978, relishing the details of past Rome successful each its intricate and realistic complexity.

This past time, Tilson Thomas offered an epic, yet longing, look back. Trumpets blared with startlingly large majesty. Pilgrims were mislaid successful stunning meditative refinement. In the past of the 4 festivals, “The Epiphany,” grace and grandeur merged arsenic one, with final, steadfast orchestral punctuation massively powerful. It was arsenic if Tilson Thomas was saying to the audience, “This 1 is for you. And I’m inactive present saying it.”

Tilson Thomas has made a signifier of musing astir what happens erstwhile the euphony stops. What is left? How agelong does the euphony enactment with us, determination inside? Can it alteration us? Does it matter?

From the instant Tilson Thomas became euphony manager of the San Francisco Symphony successful 1995, helium treated the orchestra arsenic an indispensable constituent of San Francisco life. His successor, Esa-Pekka Salonen, has taken that to bosom with the benignant of innovatory tone that helium had brought to the L.A. Phil. The orchestra’s absorption has not, however, provided needed support, and Salonen is leaving successful June. Musicians stood extracurricular Davies handing retired fliers to the assemblage demanding that the orchestra prosecute Tilson Thomas’ mission.

The San Francisco Symphony has reached a turning point. Respighi wrote of “The Epiphany” that helium wanted frantic clamor and intoxicating noise, expressing the fashionable feeling “We are Romans, fto america pass!” Tilson Thomas bushed retired those 3 emphatic staccato orchestral chords — Let! Us! Pass! — arsenic though meant to ringing and ringing and ring, arsenic lasting arsenic centuries-old Roman monuments.