Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas prepares backstage before performing with the YouTube Symphony Orchestra at the 2011 Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia.
Image of Lisa Maree Williams / Getty
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Image of Lisa Maree Williams / Getty
Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas prepares backstage before performing with the YouTube Symphony Orchestra at the 2011 Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia.
Image of Lisa Maree Williams / Getty
Renowned conductor and composer Michael Tilson Thomas has publicly confirmed that he has been diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, a severe type of brain cancer. Tilson Thomas served as music director of the San Francisco Symphony for 25 years, until June 2020.
The world started spreading about Tilson Thomas’ illness in the classical music community last year, when he underwent surgery to remove a tumor, but no official diagnosis was revealed until as he released a public letter Wednesday to supporters and fans.
“It takes strength to meet the demands of music and to collaborate at the highest level with remarkable musicians who have so generously welcomed me,” he wrote, of 20 concerts. music that he has been working on over the past few months with the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony. “I now see that it’s time for me to consider the level of work and responsibility that I can maintain in the future.”
Tilson Thomas writes: “Currently the cancer is under control. “But the future is uncertain because Glioblastoma is a stealthy foe. Unfortunately, its recurrence is more the rule than the exception.”
Tilson Thomas is the co-founder and longtime artistic director of the New World Symphony, an orchestra of emerging professional musicians based in Miami. He said in the letter that he was undergoing surgery, radiation treatment and chemotherapy. “After 34 years, I will step down as Artistic Director of the New World Symphony,” he wrote.
Constance Shuman, a representative for Tilson Thomas, told NPR that the conductor plans to continue leading the New World Symphony as much as possible from behind the podium, but will skip administrative duties. He will become the Artistic Director of Laureate; Tilson Thomas holds the Miss Universe titles with the San Francisco Symphony and the London Symphony Orchestra.
Tilson Thomas wrote: “I intend to stay here for a while. “Creating and collaborating to make great music is everything to me. … I will continue to compose, write, and mull over your thoughts and mine. I’m getting more. time to wonder, hike, cook, and spend time with loved ones – two legs and four. Life is precious.”
In the letter, Tilson Thomas thanked his colleagues for the support, as well as his husband, Joshua Robison.
