Michael Tilson Thomas is among the most famous American-born conductors, with a bright, extroverted personality and a wide-ranging repertoire that has allowed him to take a place at the forefront of experimenation with the form and content of symphonic concerts. His grandparents were Boris and Bessie Thomaschevsky, founders of New York's Yiddish Theater, and his father Ted Thomas was an avid amateur pianist and worked in films and television.
Tilson Thomas attended the University of Southern California. where his composition and conducting teacher was
Ingolf Dahl. At the age of 19 he was named music director of the Young Musicians Foundation Orchestra, and was selected as accompanist for master classes by
Jascha Heifetz and
Gregor Piatigorsky. In 1969 he won the Koussevitzky Prize at the
Tanglewood festival in Massachusetts, which carried with it an appointment as assistant conductor of the festival's parent, the
Boston Symphony Orchestra.
On October 22, 1969, he was called to replace
William Steinberg in a
Carnegie Hall concert at the last minute, repeating the circumstances of
Leonard Bernstein's sensational emergency debut 26 years earlier. The results were nearly identical: Tilson Thomas was catapulted into the top ranks of American conductors. In 1970 he was appointed associate conductor of the
BSO. He has served as music director of the
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, (1971-1979), principal guest conductor of the
Los Angeles Philharmonic (1981-1985), principal conductor of the
London Symphony Orchestra (1988-1995), and was appointed music director of the
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in 1995.
He is the founder of the Florida-based New World Symphony Orchestra, which comprises a group of young and promising professional symphonic musicians. Membership in that ensemble is now considered a desirable first step in an orchestral career. Tilson Thomas remains its music director and has recorded notable CDs with the group, including a highly popular
Villa-Lobos compilation.
Also a composer, Tilson Thomas wrote From the Diary of Anne Frank on commission from UNICEF in 1990 (actress
Audrey Hepburn was the narrator at the premiere). The work has been performed in several countries and languages. He has also written Showa/Shoáh for the city of Hiroshima's memorial services on the fiftieth anniversary of its nuclear bombing. ~ Joseph Stevenson, All Music Guide
Mahler: Symphony No. 8; Adagio from Symphony No. 10
Copland the Populist
