Michael Tilson Thomas

With the titles Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony, Artistic Director of the New World Symphony, Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director of the Pacific Music Festival, Michael Tilson Thomas has built quite a reputation for himself in the music industry. He is internationally known as a composer and a conductor, combining his own eclectic style with various American music styles. During his career he has worked with such music greats as Igor Stravinsky, George Boulez and Copland.
Michael Tilson Thomas was born in Los Angeles in the 1940s. He was musically influenced by his family, who had been artistically inclined for three generations. He began studying piano at the University of Southern California with John Crown and conducting and composing classes with Ingolf Dahl. By the age of 19, he was appointed Music Director of the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra. During this time Michael Tilson Thomas was also pianist and conductor for Gregor Piatigorsky and Jascha Heifetz and was the assistant conductor at the Bayreuth Festival.
Michael Tilson Thomas became assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1969 after winning the Koussevitzky Prize at Tanglewood. He gained international recognition with the orchestra when he replaced William Steinberg, during his New York debut performance in 1969. He became Principal Guest Conductor of the orchestra where he stayed until 1974. From there his accomplishments include Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, Principal Guest Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Principal Conductor of the Great Woods Music Festival. In the summer of 1990, Michael Tilson Thomas accompanied Leonard Bernstein to Japan for the first Pacific Music Festival. Each summer, Michael Tilson Thomas returns to Japan to be the artistic director of the festival.
Besides performing and conducting worldwide, Michael Tilson Thomas recognizes the need for helping music graduates gain experience. In 1988 he created the New World Symphony, a training symphony for graduates of music conservatories. For a decade the symphony has been training young men and women who acquire employment in orchestras and symphonies worldwide. He himself led the symphony on a tour of the United States in 1991. The tour featured his composition, "From the Diary of Anne Frank." Since its debut, this piece has been heard all around the world in a variety of languages.
In 1995 Michael Tilson Thomas became the 11th music director of the San Francisco Symphony. Since he took this position, the orchestra has toured the United States, Europe and Asia and has gained international recognition. The orchestra also signed an exclusive five-year contract with BMG Classics/RCA Red Seal under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. Their first release under the label, "Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet," won a Grammy Award in 1997 for Best Orchestral Performance. The orchestra has also released Mahler's Das klagende Lied, the fourth release for Michael Tilson Thomas and the Orchestra.
Aside from his appointments for the various orchestras, Michael Tilson Thomas also likes to spend time on composing. In 1995, he was commissioned by Hiroshima, Japan to compose a piece for their 50th anniversary bombing of the city. The piece has since become part of his First Symphony. Among his compositions are a collection of After Hours Songs, "Teddy's Tunes; " three piano preludes; Four Preludes on "Playthings of the Wind," for the London Symphony Orchestra; and an orchestral work titled "Graduation Day."
Michael Tilson Thomas is known as one of the busiest conductors of the 20th century. He has been internationally recognized for his conducting, composing and performing and still travels and performs worldwide. ~ Kim Summers, All Music Guide