Michael Tilson Thomas has been part of the LA Phil family for more than five decades, and in honor of his 80th birthday, the orchestra celebrates its former Principal Guest Conductor with selections of his music and other classic gems alongside world-renowned pianist Yuja Wang.
Kicking off the evening with what MTT calls “alternately elegant and goofball percussion entrances,” he conducts his jubilant Agnegram, followed by a festive and scintillating impression of Spain in Ibéria by Debussy, a composer whose sensuality has captivated MTT like no other.
Like Ibéria, Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra is brilliant, imaginative, and an all-encompassing favorite of MTT.
Yuja Wang jazzes up the program, joining MTT at the piano for Poulenc’s devilishly witty Sonata for Four Hands. The duo channels the energy of the swing era with the original jazz band version of Gershwin’s ever-popular Rhapsody in Blue and MTT’s “boogie-woogie-esque” pickup-line piece that is “tailor-made for the sharp, percussive playing of Yuja.” (San Francisco Classical Voice).