Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas says brain tumor has returned

Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas' brain tumor has returned, and the 80-year-old intends to lead his final performance in April.

Thomas announced in August 2021 that he had undergone surgery for a glioblastoma. He returned to conduct with a reduced schedule and the following March resigned as artistic director of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida, after 34 seasons. He led the New York Philharmonic's opening subscription program in September,

“The 3 ½ years since the initial diagnosis have been a special time in my life, filled with friends, family, and music. They have also been challenging as I had to undergo a second operation and manage complications from the treatments that have held the tumor at bay,” he said in a statement Monday.

Thomas said there are treatment options for the tumor, “but the odds are uncertain.”

Thomas was music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic from 1971-1979, and music director of the San Francisco Symphony from 1995-2020.

He is to conduct the New World Symphony on March 29 and 30, and on April 5 and 6, then the San Francisco Symphony on April 26 in a belated 80th birthday celebration.

“At that point we all get to say the old show business expression, ‘It’s a wrap,’” he said. “A coda is a musical element at the end of a composition that brings the whole piece to a conclusion. A coda can vary greatly in length. My life’s coda is generous and rich.”