The National Yiddish Theatre – FOLKSBIENE – honored Michael Tilson Thomas at a New York Philharmonic presentation of “The Tomashefskys:  Music and Memories of a Life in the Yiddish Theatre” at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, where Folksbiene hosted their Annual Gala on April 6, 2011 honoring the conductor along with David and Sylvia Steiner for their tireless support of the Yiddish Theater.  PC

This is a new edition of Tilson Thomas’s acclaimed multi-media concert performance, which premiered at Carnegie Hall in 2005. The new concert was performed at Avery Fisher Hall on two consecutive nights,  April 5th and 6th.
 
Folksbiene, a Drama Desk Award winning company, has distinguished itself in recent years for producing acclaimed new works in Yiddish and is the sole surviving professional Yiddish theatre in America giving us a valuable link to the rich legacy of the Yiddish theatre, which flourished on Second Ave and was dominated by Tilson Thomas’s grandparents,  the legendary Boris and Bessie Thomaskhefsky.
Photography: Barry Gordin