a leading American conductor for a half-century who headed orchestras in Buffalo, Miami, London and San Francisco while also composing, died Wednesday. He was 81.
Tilson Thomas and resumed his career, then said in February 2025 the tumor He conducted his final concert with the San Francisco Symphony in April 2025 and died at his home in San Francisco, spokesperson Connie Shuman said.
Tilson Thomas received 39 Grammy Award nominations, winning 12, and was among in 2019.
鈥淚t鈥檚 meant to have various intriguing and alluring, questioning things that you hear on first hearing,鈥� he said of classical music during a 2004 interview with The Associated Press. 鈥淏ut by its very nature it鈥檚 holding a lot of other secrets or a lot of other perspectives much closer to its chest, which only with repeated hearing you start realizing are there.鈥�
Tilson Thomas was born in Los Angeles on Dec. 21, 1944, to a family steeped in the arts. His father, Ted, was a producer at New York鈥檚 Mercury Theater Company, then worked in Los Angeles in the movie and television industry. His mother, Roberta, headed research for Columbia Pictures. His grandparents, Bessie and Boris Thomashefsky, were pioneers in American Yiddish theater.
He played piano at a young age and attended the University of Southern California. By the time he received a degree in 1967, he had worked with Pierre Boulez, Aaron Copland, Igor Stravinsky and Karlheinz Stockhausen.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 fling the word genius around lightly, but I fling it around about Michael. He reminds me of me at that age, except that he knows more than I did,鈥� conductor Leonard Bernstein told The New York Times Magazine for a 1971 profile. 鈥淣ot only music, but things like the functions of the brain, cerebrology, physics, biochemistry.鈥�
Tilson Thomas was the co-music director and then music director of California鈥檚 Ojai Festival in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was an assistant at Germany鈥檚 Bayreuth Festival in 1966, won the Koussevitzky Prize at the Tanglewood Music Center in 1968 and became a Boston Symphony Orchestra assistant conductor in 1969.
Tilson Thomas made his New York debut at Lincoln Center鈥檚 Philharmonic Hall on Oct. 22, 1969, as a mid-concert replacement for an ailing William Steinberg. Tilson Thomas led Robert Starer鈥檚 Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra, and Strauss鈥� 鈥淭ill Eulenspiegel.鈥�
鈥淎 tall, thin young man, he came on stage with an air of immense confidence and authority, and showed that his confidence was not misplaced,鈥� critic Harold C. Schonberg wrote in the Times. 鈥淗e takes naturally to this music, as might be expected of a Tanglewood graduate and a pupil of Pierre Boulez.鈥�
Tilson Thomas became the BSO鈥檚 principal guest conductor from 1972-1974 and was music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic from 1971-79 and a principal guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1981-85.
He helped found in 1987 and served as artistic director until 2021. He was principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra from 1988-95 and music director of the San Francisco Symphony from 1995-2020.
Tilson Thomas鈥� compositions include 鈥淕race鈥� (1988), 鈥淔our Preludes on Playthings of the Wind鈥� (2015-16) and 鈥淢editations on Rilke鈥� (2019).
His husband, Joshua Robison, died Feb. 22 while recovering from a fall suffered last August. They met while playing in the orchestra of North Hollywood Junior High School (since renamed Walter Reed Middle School), became partners in 1976 and married in 2014.
In announcing would take place in San Francisco on April 26, 2025, in a belated 80th birthday celebration, Thomas issued a statement acknowledging his mortality.
鈥淎t that point we all get to say the old show business expression, 鈥業t鈥檚 a wrap,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淎 coda is a musical element at the end of a composition that brings the whole piece to a conclusion. A coda can vary greatly in length. My life鈥檚 coda is generous and rich.鈥�
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