Interview with Michael Tilson Thomas to Air Today on Fresh Air with Terry Gross Broadcast on NPR

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An interview with conductor Michael Tilson Thomas by Terry Gross will air today on Fresh Air, produced by WHYY-FM and broadcast nationally on NPR stations. Please check here for your local broadcast schedule.

This interview precedes the broadcast of two programs featuring Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) on PBS's Great Performances this week. The Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in the Yiddish Theater, a musical celebration of Yiddish theater pioneers Boris and Bessie Thomashefsky who were MTT's grandparents, will air nationally on Thursday, March 29 at 8PM (check local listings).

Recorded in April 2011 at the Frank Gehry-designed New World Center in Miami Beach, this performance of The Thomashefskys is hosted and conducted by MTT and stars Judy Blazer as Bessie Thomashefsky and Shuler Hensley as Boris Thomashefsky. It also features Ronit Widmann-Levy and Eugene Brancoveanu and the New World Symphony. In the Fresh Air interview, MTT talks about this production and the legacy of his grandparents.

The following evening, concert footage from the San Francisco Symphony's Centennial Season gala concert held in September at Davies Symphony Hall and featuring Itzhak Perlman and Lang Lang is presented alongside historical documentary footage in San Francisco Symphony at 100, hosted by Amy Tan. This airs nationally on PBS Great Performances on Friday, March 30 at 9PM (check local listings).

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