Facing resurgent cancer, Michael Tilson Thomas announces final concerts

On Monday, the Grammy-winning conductor and composer and Kennedy Center honoree, Michael Tilson Thomas, took to social media to announce his final performances after his medical team confirmed the return of an aggressive brain tumor. Tilson Thomas, 80, was first diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive type of brain cancer, in 2021.

“There are treatment options, but the odds are uncertain,” the conductor wrote in posts to his website and social media, in which he referenced spending time at home and in Bolinas, California, with husband Joshua Mark Robison and their dogs.

“Our home is filled with memories of a full life. There’s a keyboard on each floor and occasionally a piece by CPE Bach, Mozart, Brahms, Schumann, a Broadway melody, or one of my own tunes seem to emerge. Sometimes I can share these moments. Other times I find my own personal peace and solace. Now is the time to wind down my public appearances.”

In addition to performances with the National Symphony Orchestra in 2022, Tilson Thomas has appeared between treatments with the London Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, among several others. He recently withdrew from a performance of Beethoven’s “Eroica” symphony with the Philadelphia Orchestra scheduled for early March. (Osmo Vänskä will conduct in his stead.)

For 25 years, Tilson Thomas led the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, where he now holds the title of music director laureate.

“In March, I have concerts planned with the New World Symphony and, on April 26, the San Francisco Symphony is celebrating my 80th birthday,” he wrote. “At that point, we all get to say the old show business expression, ‘It’s a wrap.’ ”