San Francisco Symphony musicians take the stage at Davies Symphony Hall Friday night for a concert honoring the life and artistry of late music director Michael Tilson Thomas, the conductor and composer who led the orchestra for 25 transformative years before dying in April 2026 at age 81. The tribute arrives as the city dims its skyline into blue light, with Davies Symphony Hall, City Hall, Coit Tower, and San Francisco International Airport all illuminated in his honor Friday.
Tilson Thomas took the podium as music director in 1995, and as reported by KRON4, the San Francisco Symphony described his quarter-century tenure as one that helped the orchestra achieve artistic acclaim, expand its global reach, champion contemporary and American music, and reimagine its connections with audiences and communities. He won 12 Grammy Awards over his career and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2019, according to the same report. He had battled an aggressive form of brain cancer for five years before his death in San Francisco.
Friday's memorial program at Davies Symphony Hall brings together conductor Teddy Abrams, vocalist Audra McDonald, and speaker Jamie Bernstein — daughter of the late composer Leonard Bernstein, who mentored Tilson Thomas early in his career. The concert weaves personal tributes, archival footage, recordings, and live musical performances dedicated to the late maestro, the station's report notes. Tickets remain available through the San Francisco Symphony website.
Two New Works Mark the Occasion
The evening's program also includes a pair of world premieres built specifically for the occasion. Tilson Thomas's own solo piano composition, titled Constancy, will be performed by pianist John Wilson, while composer Mason Bates contributes a new piece called If you listen, there's a song, performed by Sasha Cooke and Jeremy Denk, according to Colin's Column. Bates's commission sets to music a poem written by Tilson Thomas's own father, Ted Thomas, tying the new work directly into the conductor's family history.
Davies Symphony Hall has also turned part of its lobby into a living scrapbook of the maestro's career. Since mid-September, the First Tier lobby has hosted an exhibit called Michael Tilson Thomas — A Maestro for San Francisco, featuring photos and personal items documenting his 25-year tenure as music director and his 52-year association with the orchestra overall, according to the San Francisco Symphony. The exhibit runs through October 13, giving concertgoers and visitors several more weeks to take it in.
A Loss That Came in Pairs
Tilson Thomas's death in April followed a deeply personal loss just two months earlier. His husband, manager, and longtime creative collaborator Joshua Robison died at age 79 on February 22, 2026, while recovering from a fall he had suffered the previous August, according to KQED. The two met in a junior high school orchestra in North Hollywood and remained life partners for nearly 50 years before marrying in 2014. Friday's concert follows their deaths earlier this year.
Tilson Thomas gave his final scheduled public performance leading the San Francisco Symphony on April 26, 2025, conducting a program marking his 80th birthday that included Benjamin Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra and Respighi's Roman Festivals, according to PBS News. He had announced in early 2025 that his brain cancer had returned, describing his final period as a generous life coda.
Decades of Influence Beyond Davies Hall
In 1987, he co-founded the Miami Beach-based New World Symphony, an elite postgraduate training academy. He stepped down as artistic director there in March 2022 following his 2021 glioblastoma diagnosis, a transition Hoodline detailed in its coverage of a recent lawsuit involving the academy.
Tilson Thomas also made acclaimed recordings of Mahler. He also created Keeping Score, a project that combined musical exploration with educational initiatives.
Tilson Thomas first drew international attention in October 1969, at age 24, when, as assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, he unexpectedly stepped in to replace an ailing William Steinberg mid-concert at Lincoln Center's Philharmonic Hall, according to Bachtrack. Bernstein later remarked that the young conductor reminded him of himself.
A Symphony Looking Ahead
Friday's tribute also lands at a moment of transition for the orchestra itself.
For now, though, Friday belongs to remembrance. As San Francisco's skyline turns blue and Davies Symphony Hall fills with music, tributes, and memories, the city is marking the end of an era defined by one conductor's five decades of devotion to an orchestra, a hall, and a community he helped shape.
