New World Symphony Kicks it Off Right

Caught the New World Symphony's kickoff last night at the Arsht Center and was duly impressed with Miami's vibrant cultural institutions. I am referring to three entities here - the Arsht Center (with its magnificent acoustics), the Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas aka MTT, conductor and musical force. I've attended Friends of NWS events before where usually a few musicians deliver creatively-imagined pop culture-referencing pieces in a party setting. This was my first encounter with the full majesty of the orchestra, and it was a revelation.
South Florida Classical Review has a great review of the concert and I found his last lines to resonate with my thoughts as the night ended:

The finale rounded off the performance quite gloriously, the New World members delivering the music with muscle and refinement, MTT seeming to encapsulate and convey the expressive essence of each variation in his body and gestures.

One could not deny MTT's enthusiasm for and animated delivery of the music (at one point it seemed he was doing "the robot" he was so into it). The fact that he was able to make a 200 year-old composition sound so fresh and alive is a testament to his talent and that of his posse of instrumentalists.