These are rough times for symphony orchestras throughout the U.S., but you wouldn't know that in Miami Beach, where Michael Tilson Thomas, the artistic director of the New World Symphony, just presided over the grand opening of his new $160 million playground, the New World Center. But, beneath all the cutting-edge bells and whistles, Tilson Thomas is a man on a mission; he wants to save symphonic music, and, if this past week was any indication, he may very well succeed.
The peripatetic conductor, who divides his time between conducting orchestras here, in San Francisco, and in London, was on hand for this past week's opening ceremonies of the New World Symphony's New World Center, the new Frank Gehry-designed building that has the architectural world agog. But now that we know we've got a fantastic new building, it was up to Tilson Thomas to show us what this building could do and, at last Sunday's concert, he delivered.
This was a relatively short concern, in which the orchestra delivered three pieces, the rousing "Overture to Candide; " Gymnopedie No. 1, which was designed to show off the noise-muffling qualities of the new building (the cacophony of the old Lincoln Road used to intrude when the symphony performed in it's old digs, Tilson Thomas noted), and, what the audience was eagerly awaiting, Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.
Now, the New World Symphony, which bills itself as "America's Orchestral Academy," is always a treat. This is a perpetually young orchestra; the 90 members are all music fellows, who graduate from the finest music college programs in the world, and one-third of the members turn over each year, so there is always talent to watch and enjoy. And, of course, it's always fun to watch Tilson Thomas, who is to the podium like a prima ballerina is to the stage.
Word had circulated beforehand that it was with this piece that Tilson Thomas intended to show off his new toy's video projection capabilities, so anticipation was high. And the conductor delivered. Smartly, he chose a visual work like Pictures, which lends itself to illustration. The center was darkened and, as the music rose, the screen lit up with images. These original video projections, which traveled around in sequence from screen to screen, engulfed the center.
A team at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts specially created the animations, which were delightful. The 15 segments, consisted of 10 paintings by recurring images of people walking through the art exhibition, ranged from such amusements as hatching eggs that produced dancing chicks, to lighting and thunder (Night on Bald Mountain, anyone?), to a ghostly blue Medieval Castle, and the goings-on therein.
The only quibble is that, because the screens are situated high up, you need to tilt your head up to see the visuals, so you need to basically wach one show --the orchestra, or the other, and it's a bit distratcting. And, of course, it will remain to be seen if the excitement generated by the past several days of opening performances translates into Box Office gold, but, if the audience's reaction Sunday was any indication then Tilson Thomas definitely has a shot at attracting a younger crowd, the ones who are accustomed to being fed multimedia from their classrooms to their Droids. And, in doing so, he could indeed save orchestral music as well. It will be fascinating to see where Tilson Thomas goes from here.
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