But some people will say you just did these programs. Well, yes, the programs are important and I'm proud of the programs, but mostly I'm proud of the way the San Francisco Symphony plays these programs.

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• Michael Tilson Thomas:

  But still as compared to many, many orchestras in the world, I think you find a lot more new music

• Michael Tilson Thomas:

  But those musics do not address the larger kind of architecture in time that classical music does,

• Michael Tilson Thomas:

  But without the experience of actually singing or playing these things yourself, you don't have the

• Michael Tilson Thomas:

  But you know in the contemporary art world, you pose a very interesting conundrum. All sorts of peo

• Michael Tilson Thomas:

  Conductors are performers.

• Michael Tilson Thomas:

  Earlier in my life, I performed a lot of music. Some of it because I felt it was a demonstration, o

• Michael Tilson Thomas:

  Extreme volume in music very often disguises a lack of actually important content.

• Michael Tilson Thomas:

  I can't do pieces I only admire technically. I have to feel some direct contact with them.

• Michael Tilson Thomas:

  I think music needs to be presented in a way so that kids can grasp songs, dances, simple music tha

• Michael Tilson Thomas:

  If we are able to get inside the music and inhabit it convincingly enough, it will cause everyone t