Featured In
ALBUMMichael Tilson Thomas in Verbier (Live)Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, Verbier Festival Orchestra & Michael Tilson Thomas
Albums by Michael Tilson Thomas
ALBUMThree Trombone SolosJoseph Alessi, Ian Bousfield & Christian Lindberg
ALBUMThe American ProjectYuja Wang, Louisville Orchestra & Teddy Abrams
ALBUMUpon Further ReflectionJohn Wilson
ALBUMTilson Thomas: From the Diary of Anne Frank & Meditations on RilkeMichael Tilson Thomas & San Francisco Symphony
ALBUMCopland: Symphony No. 3Michael Tilson Thomas & San Francisco Symphony
ALBUMMahler: Symphony No. 6Michael Tilson Thomas & San Francisco Symphony
ALBUMIves: Symphony No. 3, "The Camp Meeting" & Symphony No. 4Michael Tilson Thomas & San Francisco Symphony
ALBUMBerlioz: Roméo et JulietteSan Francisco Symphony Chorus, San Francisco Symphony & Michael Tilson Thomas
ALBUMBernstein: Arias and BarcarollesIsabel Leonard, Ryan McKinny, San Francisco Symphony & Michael Tilson Thomas
ALBUMTchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6, "Pathétique"Michael Tilson Thomas & San Francisco Symphony
Michael Tilson Thomas's Popular Music Videos
San Francisco Symphony Records Adams Absolute Jest & Grand Pianola Music
San Francisco Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas & John Adams
A Universe of Sound - Recording Mahler's Symphony No. 8
San Francisco Symphony & Michael Tilson Thomas
San Francisco Symphony Records Beethoven Symphony No. 9
San Francisco Symphony & Michael Tilson Thomas
San Francisco Symphony Records Masterpieces in Miniature
San Francisco Symphony & Michael Tilson Thomas
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5: IV. Allegro non troppo (Live from Barbican)
London Symphony Orchestra & Michael Tilson Thomas
San Francisco Symphony Records Mason Bates The B-Sides, Liquid Interface, & Alternative Energy
San Francisco Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas & Mason Bates
San Francisco Symphony Records Brant: Ice Field
Edwin Outwater, Michael Tilson Thomas, San Francisco Symphony & Cameron Carpenter
Recording Mahler Songs with Orchestra
Michael Tilson Thomas, San Francisco Symphony, Susan Graham & Thomas Hampson
Artist Playlists
Michael Tilson Thomas Essentials
An institution of American classical music with eyes on the future.
Artist Biography
One of America’s most respected and single-minded conductors, Michael Tilson Thomas has gained international renown not only for his facility with major repertoire from the classical music canon, but also for resisting safe and standardized programming with the orchestras he has overseen. The conductor was born in 1944 in Los Angeles into an artistic family that encouraged his early musical development. After an illustrious run at the University of Southern California, Thomas began cultivating an interest in expanding the purview of American orchestral institutions. At 19, he became musical director of the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra, where he collaborated on performances with some of the great vanguard composers of the 20th century, including Stravinsky, Boulez, and Stockhausen. After decades of shifting between renowned symphonic organizations and producing a formidable discography along the way, Thomas in 1995 settled into the job for which he is best known: music director of the San Francisco Symphony. In that post, Tilson organized definitive performances and recordings of common-practice fare—for example, 2011’s The Mahler Project, a 22-volume set of the composer’s complete symphonies and orchestral songs. Also active as a composer, Thomas premiered obscure works by 20th-century American composers including Charles Ives, John Cage, and Steve Reich. He left San Francisco in 2020 and largely retired from his major posts following a cancer diagnosis that he disclosed in 2022.
Hometown
Los Angeles, CA, United States
Genre
Classical