Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas(hefsky) Presents Lincoln Center Tribute to His Grandparents, Founders Of Yiddish Theater

On April 5 and 6, conductor Michael Tilson Thomas will be leading a tribute to his grandparents, Boris and Bessie Thomashefsky, in Avery Fisher Hall at New York's Lincoln Center. 

The Thomashefskys, founders and stars of the thriving Yiddish theater in the 1880s, are the subjects of a show created by Tilson Thomas that premiered at Carnegie Hall in 2005, and toured the nation, most recently in Philadelphia last month.

Tilson Thomas, music director of the San Francisco Symphony, is proud of the roles that the Thomashefskys played, not only in their many theatrical productions, but also as in bringing Yiddish influence to American pop culture.

As Jeanette Friedman writes in the Jewish Standard of March 18,

At the heart of the show are Tilson Thomas’ memories of his grandmother Bessie. She settled in Los Angeles in her old age to be with her children and grandchildren, and discovered that many of the kids who had hung around the Yiddish theaters on Second Avenue in its heyday were running the Hollywood studios. It was no surprise to her that they filled their movies with the pathos, comedy, and melodrama they had learned on the Lower East Side.

In this video, Tilson Thomas introduces the Philadelphia show, which is the same show he will present at Lincoln Center in April. Enjoy!