San Francisco Symphony Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas’ brain tumor has returned, he says, and the 80-year-old intends to lead his final performance in April.
Thomas announced in August 2021 that he had undergone surgery for a glioblastoma, a form of cancer known to form in the brain or spinal cord. He returned to conduct with a reduced schedule and the following March resigned as artistic director of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida, after 34 seasons. He led the New York Philharmonic’s opening subscription program in September 2024.
Thomas, known widely as MTT, especially in the Bay Area after serving as the San Francisco’s popular music director from 1995 to the close of the 2109-20 season, is slated to conduct his final concert in April at the San Francisco Symphony in April, in what is a belated celebration of his 80th birthday.
“The 3½ years since the initial diagnosis have been a special time in my life, filled with friends, family, and music,” Thomas said in a statement. ” They have also been challenging as I had to undergo a second operation and manage complications from the treatments that have held the tumor at bay.”
Thomas said there are treatment options for the tumor, “but the odds are uncertain.”
Thomas was also music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic from 1971-1979.
He is to conduct the New World Symphony on March 29 and 30, and on April 5 and 6, then the San Francisco Symphony on April 26 in a belated 80th birthday celebration.
“At that point we all get to say the old show business expression, ‘It’s a wrap,’” he said. “A 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’s coda is generous and rich.”
