SAN FRANCISCO – Michael Tilson Thomas, also known as MTT died at his San Francisco residence on Wednesday, April 22, 2026. He was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer, glioblastoma multiforme in August 2021. In February 2025, his cancer returned.
He was born Thursday, December 21, 1944, in Los Angeles, California into an artistic family. He graduated from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music in 1967 and received a Master of Music in 1976. He was a student of Freidelind Wagner and a Musical Assistant and Assistant Conductor at the Bayreuth Festival.
At 19, he was a music director for Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra. In 1969, he was the Assistant Conductor for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. After replacing William Steinberg during the concert, he gained national attention.
From 1995 to 2020, he was the music director for 25 years at San Francisco Symphony, leveling it up to international levels. He co-founded New World Symphony, which was an “orchestral academy,” for young musicians in Miami Beach, Florida from 1988 to 2026. At London Symphony Orchestra in 1988 to 1995, he was a principal conductor. He worked with New York Philharmonic’s Young People’s Concerts.
Awards he received included the National Medal of Arts in 2009, Kennedy Center Honors in 2019, Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2020, Gramophone Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024 and Peabody Awards for his radio series produced with San Francisco Symphony. He also acquired 12 Grammys.
He married his longtime partner, Joshua Robison on November 2, 2014, whom he had known for 50 years. Robison died on Sunday, February 22, 2026, at 79.
