Michael Tilson Thomas, the award-winning American conductor and composer who led orchestras in Buffalo, Miami, London and San Francisco for half a century, has died at the age of 81. He passed away on Wednesday at his home in San Francisco, according to his spokesperson Connie Shuman.
Tilson Thomas had surgery for a brain tumour in 2021 and resumed his career, but announced in February 2025 that the tumour had returned. He conducted his final concert with the San Francisco Symphony in April 2025. A 12-time Grammy winner from 39 nominations, he was among the Kennedy Center Honours recipients in 2019.
Born in Los Angeles on 21 December 1944 into a family steeped in the arts, Tilson Thomas played piano from a young age and studied at the University of Southern California. His early career included working with composers such as Pierre Boulez, Aaron Copland and Igor Stravinsky, and conductor Leonard Bernstein once described him as a genius.
Tilson Thomas held numerous prestigious posts: music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic (1971–1979), principal guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic (1981–1985), founder and artistic director of Miami's New World Symphony (1987–2021), principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra (1988–1995), and music director of the San Francisco Symphony (1995–2020). He also composed works including Grace (1988) and Meditations on Rilke (2019).
Tilson Thomas is survived by no immediate family; his husband, Joshua Robison, died on 22 February while recovering from a fall. The couple met in junior high school, became partners in 1976 and married in 2014. In announcing his final concert, Tilson Thomas said: 'My life's coda is generous and rich.'
