This week, we’ve gone back into the City Arts & Lectures archives for a 2009 interview with the late conductor, composer, and pianist Michael Tilson Thomas. Tilson Thomas was the music director and conductor of the San Francisco Symphony from 1995 to 2020 - and stayed active as its music director emeritus until the last year of his life. He was known as a champion of contemporary American music - and an innovator in presenting symphonic music - even collaborating with heavy metal band Metallica. He received 12 Grammy Awards for the San Francisco Symphony’s recordings of Mahler, Prokofiev,  Stravinsky, and John Adams.  

In June of 2008 - Michael Tilson Thomas presented “The Thomashevskys - Music and Memories of a Life in the Jewish Theater” at Davies Symphony Hall.  This multimedia performance celebrated the life and work of his grandparents, Boris and Bessie Thomashevsky. He shares some of those stories in this program.  We’ll also hear him talk with culture critic Steven Winn about “Keeping Score” the PBS documentary series which he created and hosted...and about his work with the New World Symphony in Miami. 

In the years since this program was recorded on January 6, 2009 - Michael Tilson Thomas continued to lead the San Francisco Symphony - and guest conduct orchestras all over the world.  In 2021, he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer - but continued to work and travel - and was able to take the podium at his 80th birthday celebration in 2025.  Michael Tilson Thomas died at his home in San Francisco on April 22, 2026.