Politics & Power Quote by Michael Tilson Thomas

Trust, in a concert hall, is rarely a given; it has to be staged, rehearsed, and earned like any premiere. Michael Tilson Thomas is describing a quietly radical strategy: he didn’t wait for permission to modernize the repertoire in San Francisco, he normalized it from day one. “An American work on every program” isn’t just patriotic branding. It’s a way of making contemporary and local music feel less like an extracurricular add-on and more like the house style.

The subtext is political without being preachy. Orchestras sell stability - the canon, the familiar masterworks, the prestige of tradition. Tilson Thomas flips that logic: he uses consistency to make change feel reliable. If living composers appear regularly, audiences stop treating them as a special test of goodwill. They become part of the bargain you buy a ticket for. That’s why “gradually” matters. He’s not boasting about shocking the system; he’s talking about cultivating a new normal.

There’s also a leader’s pragmatism here. “Trust me” is the key phrase, and it reveals the real transaction between conductor and audience: you’ll follow me into the unknown if I keep delivering experiences that feel coherent, emotionally legible, and worth your time. In a city like San Francisco - proud of its innovation but wary of elitist culture - the approach reads as both artistic conviction and savvy coalition-building. Contemporary music becomes not a lecture, but a relationship.