Michael Tilson Thomas explains concert incident involving woman, child

Michael Tilson Thomas was the talk of the classical music world this week -- not for his skills as a conductor, but for an incident involving a woman and a child at a recent concert with the New World Symphony Orchestra in Florida.

Tilson Thomas conducted a program that included Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 with pianist Yefim Bronfman on Oct. 17 at the New World Center in Miami. The South Florida Classical Review reported this week that an incident occurred between the second and third movements of the Brahms piece during which the conductor objected to a woman and child seated in the audience, telling them that they were distracting him.

The woman and child eventually left the concert hall, according to the report. A number of classical blogs picked up the report and the story subsequently went viral. Some speculated about whether the individuals were ejected from the hall by the conductor, or if they were asked to move and left on their own initiative.

Tilson Thomas heads the New World Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony.

On Thursday, Tilson Thomas went public with his version of the incident. In an interview with New York’s WQXR radio station, the conductor said the young girl “was moving around and leaning up against her mother, putting her head up on her mother’s lap. ... She was restless. And I’m sure she had no idea of how visible she was to the whole rest of the audience.”

The report said that the mother and child were seated “in the terrace section behind the stage and in the conductor’s sightline.”

In a separate interview with the South Florida Classical Review, Tilson Thomas said he feared how the restless child would affect the Adagio movement: “Our cellist Rosanna Butterfield had worked so hard all week on her solo. I just didn’t want to see it ruined.”

Tilson Thomas said he made a judgment call “to ask her to move -- which I did quietly and courteously. I was surprised when she left the hall.”

Disruptions in concert halls have prompted a variety of responses from prominent conductors. In March, Gustavo Dudamel halted a performance at Walt Disney Concert Hall when an apparently intoxicated patron outside the main performance hall became audibly disruptive. Dudamel eventually returned to the stage.

Last year, Tilson Thomas reportedly tossed lozenges into the audience when a fit of coughing disrupted a performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Twitter: @DavidNgLAT