Terry Gross

You studied classical stick technique.

How much of that do you use now and how much of your technique is based on what you've learned and improvised over the years?

You were very close to Leonard Bernstein.

Do you feel like you learned a lot about conducting technique from him?

You were on the road with James Brown once, right?

So did you learn anything you could apply?

So did it change the way you conducted at all, or the way you organized your beat?

Your grandparents were stars of the Yiddish theater, Boris and Bessie Tomaszewski.

And well, I think your grandfather died just a few years before you were born.

Correct.

In what, 38 or 39?

And you say what, 30,000 people attended his funeral?

That's extraordinary.

Did you grow up thinking that you literally had show business in your blood?

So did she teach you anything about singing or acting when you were growing up?

That's interesting.

Yeah.

Michael Tilson Thomas, welcome back to Fresh Air.

The role of the Yiddish theater was very important for Jewish immigrants to the United States, many of whom spoke only Yiddish.

And so they couldn't read the regular newspapers.