American conductor Michael Tilson Thomas has died aged 81

23 April 2026, 16:10

By Classic FM

@ClassicFM

The classical music world says farewell to the great American conductor, pianist and composer Michael Tilson Thomas.

12-time Grammy Award-winning conductor Michael Tilson Thomas has died at the age of 81.

Tilson Thomas was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1944. His mother, Roberta, was a researcher at Columbia Pictures, and his father, Ted, was a Broadway stage manager.

Performing arts ran in the family: Tilson Thomas’ grandparents were legendary Yiddish theatre stars Boris and Bessie Thomashefsky, who founded the People’s Theater in New York City.

Tilson Thomas studied music at the University of Southern California, where he took piano lessons with John Crown, and studied conducting and composition with Ingolf Dahl. When he was just 19, he became the music director of Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra, and had the opportunity to work with composers like Stravinsky, Boulez, Stockhausen, and Copland on premieres of their new works at Los Angeles’ Monday Evening Concerts series.

After winning the Tanglewood Music Center’s Koussevitzky Prize, Tilson Thomas was appointed Assistant Conductor and pianist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. When he made his New York debut with the orchestra, he was called on to replace music director William Steinberg at late notice, something that got him international notice.

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Michael Tilson Thomas speaks to Classic FM

Soon he was Boston’s principal guest conductor, a position he held until 1974. He also conducted the Buffalo Philharmonic, as the orchestra’s music director from 1971 to 1979, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where from 1981 to 1985 he was principal guest conductor.

During this time, Tilson Thomas began an association with legendary conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein and regularly conducted the New York Philharmonic for its Young People’s Concert series.

In 1976, the conductor was seen on screen alongside Walt Disney’s Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck in a prime-time special, Bugs and Daffy's Carnival of the Animals, a special broadcast of Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals combining live action and animation.

Tilson held tenures with the London Symphony Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony orchestras. In 1987, he founded the New World Symphony with cruise ship magnate Ted Arison, with the aim of nurturing the next generation of orchestral players.

As music director of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra from 1995 onwards, Tilson Thomas and the orchestra produced numerous award-winning recordings, and several TV shows, including the PBS documentary series, Keeping Score, which explores the careers of notable composers. He received a Peabody Award for his SFS Media radio series The MTT Files. He has also been interviewed on TV shows including CBS’s 60 Minutes, ABC’s Nightlineand PBS’s American Masters.

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Michael Tilson Thomas opens the New World Symphony's 31st Anniversary with Brahms No. 4

Tilson Thomas made over 120 recordings, and was the recipient of 12 Grammy Awards, including for recordings in The Mahler Project, his collection of the composer’s complete symphonies and works for voice and orchestra, recorded with the San Francisco Symphony.

Tilson Thomas was a composer of orchestral, chamber and electroacoustic music, including From the Diary of Anne Frank (1990), Shówa/Shoáh(1995) and the song cycle, Poems of Emily Dickinson (2002).

In 2014, he married his partner of 38 years, Joshua Robison, in a private ceremony.

He has been awarded a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres of France and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2006. Barack Obama awarded him the 2009 National Medal of Arts, and he was a Kennedy Honors recipient in 2019.

In 2021, Tilson Thomas was diagnosed with a glioblastoma brain tumour, and took a step back from professional engagements.

He was back on the podium for a special concert with the New York Philharmonic featuring works by Ruth Crawford Seeger, Alban Berg, and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 in October 2023.

In February 2025, Tilson Thomas announced that his upcoming concerts would be his last, following the return of his brain tumour. “The three and a half years since the initial diagnosis have been a special time in my life, filled with friends, family, and music,” he wrote at the time, despite the challenges presented by medical procedures.

He continued on to thank the London Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, and Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestras, and announced that his performance at the helm of the San Francisco Symphony on April 26 2025, celebrating his 80th birthday, would be his last.

“A ‘coda’ is a musical element at the end of a composition that brings the whole piece to a conclusion,” he finished. “A coda can vary greatly in length. My life’s coda is generous and rich.”

He remained in his San Francisco home with his husband, Joshua, and their beloved pet dogs, with a keyboard on each floor which was played often.

Tilson Thomas died home on 23 April 2026, surrounded by friends and family. He was preceded by his husband, Joshua Robison, who died peacefully in his sleep on 22 February, aged 79.